-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
CS: Because some people may have been somewhat curious about, or mentally damaged by wondering, what Mellon and Elladan were doing behind a bush in the last disclaimer, I thought I would use this disclaimer to reassure you that everything going on behind said bush was entirely PG-13 rated. Not NC-17 rated, as was implied.
Some People: *don't believe CS*
CS: *sighs* Here, I'll show you. *pulls bush away to reveal Elladan sitting across from Mellon, in only his trousers, the rest of his clothes - and weapons - being in a pile next to Mellon, while her shoes and socks are sitting next to Elladan. Between them is a monopoly board.*
Elladan: *looks up blinks, murmurs a greeting, then returns his attention to the board*
Mellon: *distractedly* Hi CS.
CS: ...are you playing strip monopoly?!
Mellon: *looks up* Huh? Oh, yeah. It's quite fun. Especially since I 'lost' the rules, so Elladan couldn't read them.
CS: Er...that was strategic.
Elladan: *still watching the board* Indeed.
Mellon: *nods* I also instituted a special rule that you can offer to remove clothing to trade for properties.
CS: ...damn. Why didn't I think of this before? *wanders off to find a sexy Elf-lord to play strip monopoly with*
Elladan: *looks up* CS owns nothing. *pulls bush back in front of him and Mellon*
-75: Escape-
We actually did manage to leave Edoras that day, and without leaving and corpses in our wake, too. Though Éomer was looking so pale he was probably going to go and get drunk or collapse into bed as soon as we left - and Lothíriel had acquired a ring on her finger sometime during the day.
Elladan, Glorfindel and I made it our duty, as soon as we set out, to track down Elrohir and Kari and inform them of what had happened, and therefore letting them know that going near Imrahil anytime soon probably wouldn't be all that good of an idea. Unfortunately, Elrond overheard us telling them this, and demanded a full explanation. I managed to get a glimpse of Imrahil and Lothíriel during the lecture that followed, and I swear I have never seen a smirk that big on a man's face. Lothíriel almost looked like she wanted to help us, but she also looked somewhat afraid - of both her father and Elrond, I'd guess - and amused.
At any rate, once Elrond was done ranting at us (in Sindarin, of course, though it didn't matter much as everybody could guess what he was saying) Glorfindel and I went back to the rearguard and joined them, talking quietly and attempting to attract as little attention as possible, while Elladan, Elrohir and Kari stuck to Aragorn and the Fellowship.
And so, for the next few days, those of us that had conspired to get Lothíriel and Éomer together stayed very very quiet and inconspicuous - though it didn't stop the disapproving looks from both Imrahil and Elrond. Everyone else just looked amused - except for Lothíriel, who started out amused, but soon became exasperated.
Eventually, Lothíriel decided to ease things a bit, and rode over to where the five of us conspirators were currently riding near the back of the column and joined us. She just stayed on the outside of the group for a bit, listening, and we politely switched from Sindarin to Common so she could understand our conversation. After awhile, she started joining in on the conversation, and we ended up spending the entire day talking to her. At one point she actually - quietly - thanked us for what we did, and I think our relief that SOMEONE appreciated what we did must have been pretty obvious, because she giggled slightly before we continued on to other topics.
And then, at last, it was time for the Gondorian and Dol Amroth contingents to head for home. The Fellowship made a sad little group of their own off to the side, and everyone else mingled together, saying goodbye to new-found friends and companions, but in the end, it took us little over an hour to separate and get going our different ways. It was not until we reached Isengard and Legolas and Gimli went to depart that anyone other than my immediate travelling companions realized I was still with the company, and had not gone off with Aragorn.
There was a short kafluffle at that realization - apparently most of the Elves had thought I'd be going with Aragorn - and during the kafluffle, as if on cue, one of the scouts from the Dol Amroth contingent rode up. He started speaking with Elrond, then spotted me and made a beeline in my direction. He said nothing, but handed me a letter, and then turned and rode off again. I arched an eyebrow and looked at the letter - and the official seal that held it closed.
"Curious minds wish to know." Kari said from my side, looking at the letter.
"Mm-hm. I'm not sure I WANT to know, though." I said with a light frown.
"I do even if you do not." Kari said, making a grab for the letter. I pulled it out of the range of her hands, then poked her and moved Aratelpe out of the way of Kari's avenging poke and opened the letter. It had obviously been quickly written, what with the somewhat shaky script and informal wording, but the essence of it was what mattered.
And what was the essence of it? Imrahil thanking me and my 'co-conspirators', and inviting us all to Dol Amroth, and the wedding if, as he suspected, one came of this. That was, of course, a subtle reminder that he knew our reasons weren't the ones Elladan had claimed they were, but the rest of the letter let us know that he really didn't mind as much as he'd shown. It was more that it was unexpected, he said, that bothered him. Heck, if we'd told him ahead of time, he probably would have helped us. Or so he said.
I passed the letter around to Glorfindel, Kari, Elladan and Elrohir once I was done reading it, and though we let no one else read it, or know what it said, we took the bit of approval for what it was and returned to our mischievous ways. After all, with both Arwen and Aragorn gone, Elrond needed SOMEBODY to blow a gasket at, otherwise he might spontaneously combust. Not that Elrond was always mad or anything, but if he was left to ride by himself with no conversation for very long, he started brooding, and then he got in a sour mood, and the only thing that would break him out of it was a rant at someone.
The rest of the time, however, Elrond was actually amazingly pleasant to be around. More so than Galadriel, at any rate - though less so than Celeborn. I doubt any of the Elvish rulers (except maybe Gil-galad, from what Glorfindel says) could top Celeborn, though. I mean, where else are you going to find a sparklie-loving, jig-dancing Elvish ruler with a sense of humour?
Anyways. The rest of the trip back to Rivendell was actually rather boring. Before Galadriel, Celeborn, and the Lothlórien contingent split off, I got a few lessons in with Haldir, and invited him - Eru knows why - to join Kari and me on our later travels across Arda. He said that he'd have to see if he was needed in Lothlórien when the time came. Which was fine with me, of course, since as soon as I invited him, I realized how unpleasant that could be.
Besides Haldir, however, no one else was told about the planned last tour of Arda until we reached Rivendell, where we were greeted by Lady Valinlot. We informed her of our plan almost the first night back, and she was rather disappointed that we weren't going to be staying long, though she did not volunteer to go with us.
After explaining to Lady Valinlot, we found that we had to explain our intentions to Rivendell at large, and especially Elrond, since, if we wanted to get over the mountains before winter set in - a very GOOD idea, Glorfindel informed us - we needed to leave immediately. Elrond, amazingly, didn't seem the least bit surprised that Kari and I wanted to travel more, and after a days consideration, all but ordered Elladan, Elrohir and Glorfindel to go with us. He also threw in Lindir, just for good measure - he claimed that the bard could probably talk us out of any trouble we managed to get ourselves into. Lindir was less sure of his abilities, but did not protest to going with us as we headed off on the 29th of September.
We managed to cross the Misty Mountains with very little trouble, and came to the edge of Mirkwood - or rather, Eryn Lasgalen - at the beginning of November. Kari and I, remembering 'The Hobbit', were a little leery of entering the woods, but they did seem to be much more cheerful than the way we remembered them described, and the other Elves in our company went in happily enough. So the two of us just chalked our reactions up to nerves, pushed them aside, and followed in.
We hadn't gotten far into Eryn Lasgalen when we were found by a patrol of Elves who were apparently out spider hunting. At the revelation that the spiders were not yet all gone, Kari and I practically glued ourselves to our Elf-lords' sides. Much to the amusement of the native elves, of course. Kari and I made faces at them behind their backs in revenge.
One member of the Eryn Lasgalen patrol then split off and acted as our guide, leading us to the palace, where we were greeted in the courtyard by none other than Thranduil. I blinked in surprise when I saw him standing there and realized who he was, then shook my head at myself as I remembered exactly who I was traveling with. Everybody else already knew Thranduil, of course, and they all greeted him cheerily enough, and then Thranduil turned his attention to me.
Let me tell you, having Thranduil's attention focused on you is ten times worse than having Galadriel's. She, at least, doesn't make you feel like she's going to eat you if you displease her. Thranduil does. It was unnerving beyond belief, and I was eternally grateful that Glorfindel stepped in to introduce me to Thranduil after only a few moments.
"Rachel?" Thranduil said when he heard my name, frowning slightly as he looked at me in puzzlement. He'd evidently heard that story, then.
"It's a very long story that, if you REALLY want to hear, I can tell you later." I replied with a sigh. Thranduil nodded, and we were then shown to our rooms and given a quick tour of the palace by the one-and-only Queen Brethigol of Eryn Lasgalen (yep, she was still alive, and worried, as any good mother would be, about her son, though we quickly laid those worries to rest). She was truly amazing - a very nice lady, Brethigol (as she insisted I call her) didn't ooze power and strength like her husband and Galadriel, but she had a way of commanding that made everyone sit up and listen. I had the distinct feeling that if someone didn't listen to her, she would probably only have to say a few words and they'd feel guilty about it. In short, she was lovable.
We stayed in Eryn Lasgalen until the fifth of November - and yes, I did eventually explain the whole story to Thranduil, who found it rather fascinating - then we went off to Laketown. We rented rooms in an Inn there, much to the surprise of the inhabitants, who were apparently used to Elves just passing through, and stayed there until the new year. At that point, Kari, Glorfindel and I left the rest of our party and made a short trip up to the Lonely Mountain, and, due to the fact that Gimli had just returned not to long ago and vouched for us as 'good elves', we got a tour of the mines. The Dwarves seemed rather creeped out by the fact that I enjoyed their home, and the explanation that it was warm and cozy didn't help any. I just gave up trying to explain it in the end - as did the dwarves.
We only stayed in the Lonely Mountain for a week, and then returned to Laketown and the rest of our party on the 7th of January. Elladan and Elrohir were just getting settled in enough to have a REALLY good time, so we hauled them out of there as fast as we could, heading back to Eryn Lasgalen to spend the remainder of the winter there.
Since Gimli had returned, Legolas was also back, and we - along with most of the other inhabitants of the woods - got to be spectators to several spectacular explosions between the Prince and his father about the proposed colony in Ithilien. Apparently Thranduil was of the opinion that the Elves were going to be leaving soon, anyways, so why should they go about building new settlements? Legolas' arguments were that if that was the case, why had they bothered to clean up Eryn Lasgalen? In the end, however, Brethigol cornered her son and husband and made them sit down and talk to each other, and by the time we left in late March, Legolas had his permission to move some elves to Ithilien sometime within the next few years.
Once spring came around and our traveling companions somehow managed to agree that yes, the mountains should be safe to cross now, we said goodbye to Eryn Lasgalen and all the friends we'd made there and headed off for Rivendell once again. It was actually surprising how easily Kari and I got along in Eryn Lasgalen - even Elladan and Elrohir, normally at home anywhere, found it hard to fit in there. Lindir was the one who pegged down the reason as we stopped a few hours after we'd left Eryn Lasgalen and turned to look back.
"They do not show their age as those of the other kingdoms, and they have less cares, for all that they had the most trouble of anyone with their home." he said, then turned to Kari and I with a small grin. "They also like shiny things, which makes them exactly like you two."
"Hey! Rachel's the one who likes shiny things!" Kari protested.
"Oh indeed?" Lindir said, arching an eyebrow challengingly, and he and Kari were off on a verbal sparring match. I'd learned, since I'd met Lindir, that he and Kari often did that - they were, in a strange way, almost like Haldir and I, only they got along most of the time and just debated when they found a good topic, whereas Haldir and I did not get along the majority of the time and insulted at every opportunity instead of debating. Elladan made a comment about it reflecting the combined intelligence of the two involved when I mentioned it to him, and he shortly found himself skinny-dipping in the COLD lake that gave Laketown its name, as that was where we were at the time I made the observation.
Gotta love having your own Elf-lord.
And speaking of my Elf-lord, the trip back to Rivendell, especially with it being spring, brought to light for Kari and me one very important thing - or, more importantly, the lack of a very important thing. That should, by all rights, already be on my finger. I had a momentary panic attack the evening that Kari and I first really talked about it, thinking Glorfindel had changed his mind about marrying me, but Kari simply hit me upside the head and told me to stop being an idiot. One Elf-lord cuddling session later, all was good with the world once again.
Except that I was still lacking that little band of metal on my finger. Kari and I discussed it during the ride the next day, and we wondered if perhaps there was some old Gondolin tradition that Glorfindel might be trying to follow, so before we decided to start dropping hints in Glorfindel's direction, we brought Lindir in on the conversation. He seemed extremely amused by the whole thing, and after he hemmed and hawed for a good five minutes, I pushed him off his horse. When the bard resumed his seat some moments later, following much teasing from the other three in the group and with as much dignity as he could muster given the circumstances, he informed us that there was no Gondolin tradition that he could recall that would be causing Glorfindel to hesitate. So began the plans to start dropping hints in Glorfindel's direction.
Those plans were promptly dropped, however, as we realized that we were being, from a Middle-Earth standpoint, far too subtle. Though judging from his knowing grins, Lindir caught on with what we were trying to do. In fact, the night after we first noticed his knowing grins, he proved that he had caught on, as he decided, not for the first time on our journey, to grace us with a song. For the first time during the journey, however, he picked a very sappy love song to sing - by the end of it, Kari and I were both sitting in our Elf-lords laps. Elladan, seeing this, decided that he needed to sit in someone's lap, too, and somehow managed to plop himself down in Lindir's lap. The bard yelped, pushed the peredhel off, and things just degenerated from there as they only can when Elladan's involved. Kari and I, recalling slash FanFiction from back home, were twice as amused as our Elf-lords by the whole thing, and were still giggling whenever our eyes met the next day.
----To be continued...with plotting!----
(And sprucing up of Glorfindel's study!)
-Authors Note:-
Hmm, for some reason I thought I was supposed to update tomorrow...must be old habits decideding to surface...
Anyways. I finally figured out where the Lothlorien Elves went after Galadriel departed. Cuz, y'know, Galadriel goes to Valinor, then Celeborn goes to live with his grandsons in Rivendell, and, well, we all know what happened to the only kid of theirs Tolkien mentioned. So I always wondered what happened to the elves in Lothlorien after that. And I finally found out while randomly browsing through the Encyclopedia of Arda while doing research. The Lothlorien Elves went and lived in the south of Eryn Lasgalen - aka, Mirkwood.
...
Haldir in Mirkwood. Why do I find that hard to picture? But hmm...Thranduil and Haldir standing next to each other...*twitchspasm* Urg, add one more sexy Elf-lord to that mix and it would be Elf-lord overload...Hm. I bet Celeborn had to see about getting the Elves settled in Eryn Lasgalen before going to Rivendell. *adds Celeborn to the mental picture* *falls over* Elf-lord overload.
*gets back up* Anywho. I've forgotten to say the last few chapters, but I put up another new TGotG-related Chibi drawing on my website. 'Tis of what probably would have happened had Rachel looked in Galadriel's Mirror. Didn't actually happen, as we all know, but y'know that would've been Rachel's response to it.
So, thank you to all my reviewers, you're wonderful people for having stuck with me through 75 frigging chapters - and you're just as wonderful if you're one of the reviewers that hasn't been with me from the beginning, but decided to make a stab at catching up somewhere along the way and then continuing to follow along. All the praise and ego-boosting you people give me makes me feel sad that this story will be ending soon...*sniffle*
I'm going to go find some more chocolate. See y'all Thursday.
~Crimson Starlight
-Disclaimer:-
CS: Because some people may have been somewhat curious about, or mentally damaged by wondering, what Mellon and Elladan were doing behind a bush in the last disclaimer, I thought I would use this disclaimer to reassure you that everything going on behind said bush was entirely PG-13 rated. Not NC-17 rated, as was implied.
Some People: *don't believe CS*
CS: *sighs* Here, I'll show you. *pulls bush away to reveal Elladan sitting across from Mellon, in only his trousers, the rest of his clothes - and weapons - being in a pile next to Mellon, while her shoes and socks are sitting next to Elladan. Between them is a monopoly board.*
Elladan: *looks up blinks, murmurs a greeting, then returns his attention to the board*
Mellon: *distractedly* Hi CS.
CS: ...are you playing strip monopoly?!
Mellon: *looks up* Huh? Oh, yeah. It's quite fun. Especially since I 'lost' the rules, so Elladan couldn't read them.
CS: Er...that was strategic.
Elladan: *still watching the board* Indeed.
Mellon: *nods* I also instituted a special rule that you can offer to remove clothing to trade for properties.
CS: ...damn. Why didn't I think of this before? *wanders off to find a sexy Elf-lord to play strip monopoly with*
Elladan: *looks up* CS owns nothing. *pulls bush back in front of him and Mellon*
-75: Escape-
We actually did manage to leave Edoras that day, and without leaving and corpses in our wake, too. Though Éomer was looking so pale he was probably going to go and get drunk or collapse into bed as soon as we left - and Lothíriel had acquired a ring on her finger sometime during the day.
Elladan, Glorfindel and I made it our duty, as soon as we set out, to track down Elrohir and Kari and inform them of what had happened, and therefore letting them know that going near Imrahil anytime soon probably wouldn't be all that good of an idea. Unfortunately, Elrond overheard us telling them this, and demanded a full explanation. I managed to get a glimpse of Imrahil and Lothíriel during the lecture that followed, and I swear I have never seen a smirk that big on a man's face. Lothíriel almost looked like she wanted to help us, but she also looked somewhat afraid - of both her father and Elrond, I'd guess - and amused.
At any rate, once Elrond was done ranting at us (in Sindarin, of course, though it didn't matter much as everybody could guess what he was saying) Glorfindel and I went back to the rearguard and joined them, talking quietly and attempting to attract as little attention as possible, while Elladan, Elrohir and Kari stuck to Aragorn and the Fellowship.
And so, for the next few days, those of us that had conspired to get Lothíriel and Éomer together stayed very very quiet and inconspicuous - though it didn't stop the disapproving looks from both Imrahil and Elrond. Everyone else just looked amused - except for Lothíriel, who started out amused, but soon became exasperated.
Eventually, Lothíriel decided to ease things a bit, and rode over to where the five of us conspirators were currently riding near the back of the column and joined us. She just stayed on the outside of the group for a bit, listening, and we politely switched from Sindarin to Common so she could understand our conversation. After awhile, she started joining in on the conversation, and we ended up spending the entire day talking to her. At one point she actually - quietly - thanked us for what we did, and I think our relief that SOMEONE appreciated what we did must have been pretty obvious, because she giggled slightly before we continued on to other topics.
And then, at last, it was time for the Gondorian and Dol Amroth contingents to head for home. The Fellowship made a sad little group of their own off to the side, and everyone else mingled together, saying goodbye to new-found friends and companions, but in the end, it took us little over an hour to separate and get going our different ways. It was not until we reached Isengard and Legolas and Gimli went to depart that anyone other than my immediate travelling companions realized I was still with the company, and had not gone off with Aragorn.
There was a short kafluffle at that realization - apparently most of the Elves had thought I'd be going with Aragorn - and during the kafluffle, as if on cue, one of the scouts from the Dol Amroth contingent rode up. He started speaking with Elrond, then spotted me and made a beeline in my direction. He said nothing, but handed me a letter, and then turned and rode off again. I arched an eyebrow and looked at the letter - and the official seal that held it closed.
"Curious minds wish to know." Kari said from my side, looking at the letter.
"Mm-hm. I'm not sure I WANT to know, though." I said with a light frown.
"I do even if you do not." Kari said, making a grab for the letter. I pulled it out of the range of her hands, then poked her and moved Aratelpe out of the way of Kari's avenging poke and opened the letter. It had obviously been quickly written, what with the somewhat shaky script and informal wording, but the essence of it was what mattered.
And what was the essence of it? Imrahil thanking me and my 'co-conspirators', and inviting us all to Dol Amroth, and the wedding if, as he suspected, one came of this. That was, of course, a subtle reminder that he knew our reasons weren't the ones Elladan had claimed they were, but the rest of the letter let us know that he really didn't mind as much as he'd shown. It was more that it was unexpected, he said, that bothered him. Heck, if we'd told him ahead of time, he probably would have helped us. Or so he said.
I passed the letter around to Glorfindel, Kari, Elladan and Elrohir once I was done reading it, and though we let no one else read it, or know what it said, we took the bit of approval for what it was and returned to our mischievous ways. After all, with both Arwen and Aragorn gone, Elrond needed SOMEBODY to blow a gasket at, otherwise he might spontaneously combust. Not that Elrond was always mad or anything, but if he was left to ride by himself with no conversation for very long, he started brooding, and then he got in a sour mood, and the only thing that would break him out of it was a rant at someone.
The rest of the time, however, Elrond was actually amazingly pleasant to be around. More so than Galadriel, at any rate - though less so than Celeborn. I doubt any of the Elvish rulers (except maybe Gil-galad, from what Glorfindel says) could top Celeborn, though. I mean, where else are you going to find a sparklie-loving, jig-dancing Elvish ruler with a sense of humour?
Anyways. The rest of the trip back to Rivendell was actually rather boring. Before Galadriel, Celeborn, and the Lothlórien contingent split off, I got a few lessons in with Haldir, and invited him - Eru knows why - to join Kari and me on our later travels across Arda. He said that he'd have to see if he was needed in Lothlórien when the time came. Which was fine with me, of course, since as soon as I invited him, I realized how unpleasant that could be.
Besides Haldir, however, no one else was told about the planned last tour of Arda until we reached Rivendell, where we were greeted by Lady Valinlot. We informed her of our plan almost the first night back, and she was rather disappointed that we weren't going to be staying long, though she did not volunteer to go with us.
After explaining to Lady Valinlot, we found that we had to explain our intentions to Rivendell at large, and especially Elrond, since, if we wanted to get over the mountains before winter set in - a very GOOD idea, Glorfindel informed us - we needed to leave immediately. Elrond, amazingly, didn't seem the least bit surprised that Kari and I wanted to travel more, and after a days consideration, all but ordered Elladan, Elrohir and Glorfindel to go with us. He also threw in Lindir, just for good measure - he claimed that the bard could probably talk us out of any trouble we managed to get ourselves into. Lindir was less sure of his abilities, but did not protest to going with us as we headed off on the 29th of September.
We managed to cross the Misty Mountains with very little trouble, and came to the edge of Mirkwood - or rather, Eryn Lasgalen - at the beginning of November. Kari and I, remembering 'The Hobbit', were a little leery of entering the woods, but they did seem to be much more cheerful than the way we remembered them described, and the other Elves in our company went in happily enough. So the two of us just chalked our reactions up to nerves, pushed them aside, and followed in.
We hadn't gotten far into Eryn Lasgalen when we were found by a patrol of Elves who were apparently out spider hunting. At the revelation that the spiders were not yet all gone, Kari and I practically glued ourselves to our Elf-lords' sides. Much to the amusement of the native elves, of course. Kari and I made faces at them behind their backs in revenge.
One member of the Eryn Lasgalen patrol then split off and acted as our guide, leading us to the palace, where we were greeted in the courtyard by none other than Thranduil. I blinked in surprise when I saw him standing there and realized who he was, then shook my head at myself as I remembered exactly who I was traveling with. Everybody else already knew Thranduil, of course, and they all greeted him cheerily enough, and then Thranduil turned his attention to me.
Let me tell you, having Thranduil's attention focused on you is ten times worse than having Galadriel's. She, at least, doesn't make you feel like she's going to eat you if you displease her. Thranduil does. It was unnerving beyond belief, and I was eternally grateful that Glorfindel stepped in to introduce me to Thranduil after only a few moments.
"Rachel?" Thranduil said when he heard my name, frowning slightly as he looked at me in puzzlement. He'd evidently heard that story, then.
"It's a very long story that, if you REALLY want to hear, I can tell you later." I replied with a sigh. Thranduil nodded, and we were then shown to our rooms and given a quick tour of the palace by the one-and-only Queen Brethigol of Eryn Lasgalen (yep, she was still alive, and worried, as any good mother would be, about her son, though we quickly laid those worries to rest). She was truly amazing - a very nice lady, Brethigol (as she insisted I call her) didn't ooze power and strength like her husband and Galadriel, but she had a way of commanding that made everyone sit up and listen. I had the distinct feeling that if someone didn't listen to her, she would probably only have to say a few words and they'd feel guilty about it. In short, she was lovable.
We stayed in Eryn Lasgalen until the fifth of November - and yes, I did eventually explain the whole story to Thranduil, who found it rather fascinating - then we went off to Laketown. We rented rooms in an Inn there, much to the surprise of the inhabitants, who were apparently used to Elves just passing through, and stayed there until the new year. At that point, Kari, Glorfindel and I left the rest of our party and made a short trip up to the Lonely Mountain, and, due to the fact that Gimli had just returned not to long ago and vouched for us as 'good elves', we got a tour of the mines. The Dwarves seemed rather creeped out by the fact that I enjoyed their home, and the explanation that it was warm and cozy didn't help any. I just gave up trying to explain it in the end - as did the dwarves.
We only stayed in the Lonely Mountain for a week, and then returned to Laketown and the rest of our party on the 7th of January. Elladan and Elrohir were just getting settled in enough to have a REALLY good time, so we hauled them out of there as fast as we could, heading back to Eryn Lasgalen to spend the remainder of the winter there.
Since Gimli had returned, Legolas was also back, and we - along with most of the other inhabitants of the woods - got to be spectators to several spectacular explosions between the Prince and his father about the proposed colony in Ithilien. Apparently Thranduil was of the opinion that the Elves were going to be leaving soon, anyways, so why should they go about building new settlements? Legolas' arguments were that if that was the case, why had they bothered to clean up Eryn Lasgalen? In the end, however, Brethigol cornered her son and husband and made them sit down and talk to each other, and by the time we left in late March, Legolas had his permission to move some elves to Ithilien sometime within the next few years.
Once spring came around and our traveling companions somehow managed to agree that yes, the mountains should be safe to cross now, we said goodbye to Eryn Lasgalen and all the friends we'd made there and headed off for Rivendell once again. It was actually surprising how easily Kari and I got along in Eryn Lasgalen - even Elladan and Elrohir, normally at home anywhere, found it hard to fit in there. Lindir was the one who pegged down the reason as we stopped a few hours after we'd left Eryn Lasgalen and turned to look back.
"They do not show their age as those of the other kingdoms, and they have less cares, for all that they had the most trouble of anyone with their home." he said, then turned to Kari and I with a small grin. "They also like shiny things, which makes them exactly like you two."
"Hey! Rachel's the one who likes shiny things!" Kari protested.
"Oh indeed?" Lindir said, arching an eyebrow challengingly, and he and Kari were off on a verbal sparring match. I'd learned, since I'd met Lindir, that he and Kari often did that - they were, in a strange way, almost like Haldir and I, only they got along most of the time and just debated when they found a good topic, whereas Haldir and I did not get along the majority of the time and insulted at every opportunity instead of debating. Elladan made a comment about it reflecting the combined intelligence of the two involved when I mentioned it to him, and he shortly found himself skinny-dipping in the COLD lake that gave Laketown its name, as that was where we were at the time I made the observation.
Gotta love having your own Elf-lord.
And speaking of my Elf-lord, the trip back to Rivendell, especially with it being spring, brought to light for Kari and me one very important thing - or, more importantly, the lack of a very important thing. That should, by all rights, already be on my finger. I had a momentary panic attack the evening that Kari and I first really talked about it, thinking Glorfindel had changed his mind about marrying me, but Kari simply hit me upside the head and told me to stop being an idiot. One Elf-lord cuddling session later, all was good with the world once again.
Except that I was still lacking that little band of metal on my finger. Kari and I discussed it during the ride the next day, and we wondered if perhaps there was some old Gondolin tradition that Glorfindel might be trying to follow, so before we decided to start dropping hints in Glorfindel's direction, we brought Lindir in on the conversation. He seemed extremely amused by the whole thing, and after he hemmed and hawed for a good five minutes, I pushed him off his horse. When the bard resumed his seat some moments later, following much teasing from the other three in the group and with as much dignity as he could muster given the circumstances, he informed us that there was no Gondolin tradition that he could recall that would be causing Glorfindel to hesitate. So began the plans to start dropping hints in Glorfindel's direction.
Those plans were promptly dropped, however, as we realized that we were being, from a Middle-Earth standpoint, far too subtle. Though judging from his knowing grins, Lindir caught on with what we were trying to do. In fact, the night after we first noticed his knowing grins, he proved that he had caught on, as he decided, not for the first time on our journey, to grace us with a song. For the first time during the journey, however, he picked a very sappy love song to sing - by the end of it, Kari and I were both sitting in our Elf-lords laps. Elladan, seeing this, decided that he needed to sit in someone's lap, too, and somehow managed to plop himself down in Lindir's lap. The bard yelped, pushed the peredhel off, and things just degenerated from there as they only can when Elladan's involved. Kari and I, recalling slash FanFiction from back home, were twice as amused as our Elf-lords by the whole thing, and were still giggling whenever our eyes met the next day.
----To be continued...with plotting!----
(And sprucing up of Glorfindel's study!)
-Authors Note:-
Hmm, for some reason I thought I was supposed to update tomorrow...must be old habits decideding to surface...
Anyways. I finally figured out where the Lothlorien Elves went after Galadriel departed. Cuz, y'know, Galadriel goes to Valinor, then Celeborn goes to live with his grandsons in Rivendell, and, well, we all know what happened to the only kid of theirs Tolkien mentioned. So I always wondered what happened to the elves in Lothlorien after that. And I finally found out while randomly browsing through the Encyclopedia of Arda while doing research. The Lothlorien Elves went and lived in the south of Eryn Lasgalen - aka, Mirkwood.
...
Haldir in Mirkwood. Why do I find that hard to picture? But hmm...Thranduil and Haldir standing next to each other...*twitchspasm* Urg, add one more sexy Elf-lord to that mix and it would be Elf-lord overload...Hm. I bet Celeborn had to see about getting the Elves settled in Eryn Lasgalen before going to Rivendell. *adds Celeborn to the mental picture* *falls over* Elf-lord overload.
*gets back up* Anywho. I've forgotten to say the last few chapters, but I put up another new TGotG-related Chibi drawing on my website. 'Tis of what probably would have happened had Rachel looked in Galadriel's Mirror. Didn't actually happen, as we all know, but y'know that would've been Rachel's response to it.
So, thank you to all my reviewers, you're wonderful people for having stuck with me through 75 frigging chapters - and you're just as wonderful if you're one of the reviewers that hasn't been with me from the beginning, but decided to make a stab at catching up somewhere along the way and then continuing to follow along. All the praise and ego-boosting you people give me makes me feel sad that this story will be ending soon...*sniffle*
I'm going to go find some more chocolate. See y'all Thursday.
~Crimson Starlight