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CHAPTER 2: THE MARK
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-Dear Mother and Father,
How are you, my dears? I hope Rivendell is just as well as I had left it. I'm doing all right. I made a new friend, Nadireth, who is very kind and helpful. This place is beautiful, though I do miss home so terribly.
Yours, Andiél
P.S. What would you say if I wanted to come home to help out instead of going to school?
-Our dearest daughter,
I am glad you are doing well. Everything here is quite fine. Your father just got promoted. He is working in Lord Elrond's library now! Wouldn't it be lovely if he were to meet him? I am the same, working in the gardens.
Love, Mother
P.S. Don't you even think about quitting, young lady!
Andiél sighed again as the last sentence continued to replay itself through her mind. She should have known. Despite being raised as a lowly gardener, her mother had always held impossibly high hopes for her daughter. Her goal in life was for Andiél to marry into a rich and powerful family, which is why she was so enthusiastic about her going to the Institute.
Andiél bit her lip. What was she going to do? There was no way that the H4 was going to let her go without a mark, but she couldn't drop out – her parents had forbidden it!
She slowly walked out of her dorm, laboriously closed the door, and took a deep breath. She turned around.
There was no mark!
A small ignition of hope lighted somewhere in her. Perhaps they had let her go after all!
Happily, Andiél made her way to her first class. She saw some other students walking her way, and she smiled blissfully at them. The minute they saw her, however, they quickly looked the other way and practically raced away from her.
That's odd, she thought. As she continued to walk towards her classrooms, everyone she encountered did a similar display to avoidance. She entered the room, and suddenly everyone stopped talking, and stared at her, some with fear and others haughty belittlement.
Frowning, Andiél sat down at her desk. She leaned over to look at one side of the desk. No mark. She leaned to the other side. Still no mark. But then why was everyone acting so weird?
"Psst! Your back!" someone whispered from the back of the room.
Andiél turned around, seeing Nadireth give her an urgent look. "What?" she asked.
Nadireth tried again, "Your back!"
Suddenly the world came crashing down on her. In one swift motion, Andiél reached behind her and pulled off the piece of paper. She knew what it was going to say, but it did not prepare her from the shock of seeing it in her hand.
Andiél stared at in dread. What am I going to do?! She could not leave, but could she stay? She knew that the rest of the class watched her quietly, waiting for her the pack up and exit."You'll be dead – H4"
Andiél was suddenly furious. This stupid parchment may have worked in the past, she thought angrily, but now this time. The Horrible 4 has met its match! Much to the surprise of the class, the elleth grit her teeth, and stayed.
Lord Agelair swept into the room. "Pop quiz!" he exclaimed, as way of greeting.
Momentarily forgetting Andiél's plight, the class groaned as they each got out a blank sheet of parchment, waiting for Lord Agelair to read out the questions.
A few minutes later, Andiél was concentrating hard when suddenly a flying piece of parchment flew across the room and landed on her desk. What the-? Then, the same thing happened again, but from a different side of the room.
Hearing something, the teacher paused and looked up and saw Andiél looking around. Lord Agelair approached her, "What's going on?"
Andiél looked from the paper on her desk, then at the teacher. "I don't know, sir."
Lord Agelair frowned, "Don't know?" He took on the pieces, and unfolded it. "Don't know that you're cheating?!" he said angrily after reading its contents.
Andiél's eye opened wide, "I wasn't, sir! It came from somewhere else!"
Lord Agelair stared down at her, "Somewhere else, eh? Then where, Miss Andiél? Where did it come from?"
Andiél looked around again, but everyone was staring back at her blankly. She admitted, "I have no idea, my lord."
The teacher snarled, "Cheating, and then lying, Miss Andiél. That's a zero for the quiz, and for the day, as well!"
Andiél gasped at the lack of fairness. She crossed her arms, and remained in her seat.
As the teacher walked back up to his desk, another piece of paper was thrown, and hit him squarely on the back of his head. He reeled around, glaring at Andiél again. "How dare you, young lady! Get out of my class immediately!"
Andiél didn't even try to explain that it wasn't her. This teacher was idiotic. She quickly gathered her books and stomped out.
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The rest of the day passed slowly for Andiél. No matter where she went, people would quickly turn and escape the other way. No one would talk to her. As she turned a corner, on her way to her next class, she heard two ellith, Cylleth and Thradilia conversing quiet loudly in shrill voices.
"She still hasn't left yet?" questioned Cylleth.
"What do you expect? The poor commoner; probably has nowhere to go!" Thradilia flipped her hair and examined her nails.
"Still! If it were me, I'd have run away by now. Think of pathetic it looks to be sticking around after getting marked!"
"She'll leave sooner or later. No one defy a H4 mark for long."
"And when she does – " began Cylleth.
Thrandilia finished, "We'll be one step closer to ridding this school of the common trash!"
The ellith laughed, and high-fived each other as if they had just told some brilliant joke. Then, flipping their long manes once again, walked off the other way.
Andiél rounded the corner, her face bright red. These stupid, spoiled 'lords' and 'ladies' could not be more wrong, she thought, if they think they can rid of me so easily! She continued walking, and saw a familiar face up ahead.
"Nadireth!" she exclaimed, "I haven't seen you all day!" Nadireth looked up in fear. Without saying anything, she turned red, shook her head slightly, and ran away. Andiél stayed rooted to her spot, her heart sinking. Even my only friend has turned against me…
"So this is your so-called alliance of the lower class?" said a haughty voice.
Andiél wheeled around, to see none other than Haldir himself, leaning again the wall next to her. "What do you want?" she hissed.
Haldir smirked, "Yesterday you risked everything to stand up for her, and now she won't even talk to you."
Andiél glared at him, "That doesn't matter. No matter what you do, Haldir, there is nothing that is going to make me drop out."
He smirked again, obviously enjoying this. "I have good news and I have bad news, my dear elleth." He paused, watching her arch her eyebrow. "The good news is that I admire your strength… and the bad news is that I will now try even harder to get rid of you." Finished, he whipped around and walked the other way, leaving Andiél glowering after him.
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That night, the H4 met up in their favorite club. Elladan and Elrohir were lounging on the comfortable chairs, while Legolas was staring intently at the ring on his finger. Haldir was late.
"Legolas, why are you rubbing that blasted ring again?" asked Elrohir.
Elladan chuckled, "My dear brother, you do not understand. It is not the ring he thinks he is rubbing, but the lady that gave it do him…" The elf wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Elrohir laughed with his brother, "Well, in that case, my prince, rub away! Rub away!' The twins laughed heartily.
A cold voice interrupted their banter, "Will you two ever tire of your crude jokes?" It was Haldir.
Elladan stood up, and playfully slapped Haldir on the back. "Never!" he proclaimed solemnly.
Elrohir retorted, "Aren't we in a bad mood today, eh?"
Elladan said, "Haldir's always in a bad mood. That's his nature."
Haldir snorted ungracefully. "That's because nothing exciting every happens. Our lives are so boring!!" he said, with a dramatic motion of the arms.
"I wouldn't say it was boring," said Elrohir, as he winked seductively to the waitress, "There's plenty of fun to go around."
"That is because your mind is too simple, and all you think about are ellith."
Elladan said, "And this new girl. Andiél, or something? She's quite the character!"
Haldir snorted again, "I didn't think that she would be your type, Elladan."
Elladan made a face, "I didn't mean that! She's a flat as a board! But she's quite interesting. I've never seen someone last that long after getting a mark."
Haldir shrugged, "She'll cave in sooner or later…"
Elladan's eyes suddenly lit up, "You want to bet?"
Haldir frowned, "On what terms, exactly?"
"Simple. I say she's going to stay in the Institute, and you say she's going to cave in and drop out."
Haldir smiled, "This is too easy. You're on. Elrohir, Legolas, you guys want to say something?"
Elrohir chuckled, "I'm on Elladan's side. This is one bet you're going to lose Haldir!"
Haldir arched one eyebrow, "What makes you guys so sure?"
Elrohir said, "She's reminds me of your sister, Haldir."
Haldir almost chocked on his wine, "That twig of a girl, like my sister?!"
Elladan said, "Allana is agreeably much more attractive, but their personalities are undeniably similar."
Haldir looked a little more concerned at this observation. "Legolas, what do you think?"
Legolas looked up at him blankly, and shrugged, "They're right."
Haldir thought, I'm going to win this bet, even if it's the last thing I do.
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A/N: So, what do you think? Please leave a review to let me know!!