*Disclaimer* No more cutesy phrases. I just don't own anything.
A/N: Sorry to hear about any internet trouble anyone might have had; I had no problem seeing the chapter myself, but be that as it may... Things get very interesting here on out. Enjoy! Read on!
Chapter 21-Unexpected Advances
The seige looked ready to last for quite awhile, and if it went on too long, the Elves would most definitely be at a disadvantage. The Riders could get whatever food they wanted from the forest, as well as wood for weapons. If they constantly shot arrows, the Elves would slowly but surely run out. But the Riders' bows had little to no range, so they just sat around all day and watched the Riders lose arrows. For the more seasoned Elves, this was great fun. They would bet on how far they would go, and swap little things as wagers.
Legolas, at the other end of the spectrum, seemed in a constantly sour mood, baffling Tracie and Forest, not to mention Rosellyn herself. Benvenue, however, offered a constant shoulder to cry on, and she often took advantage of that. She didn't tell everything, of course; her crush on Legolas, and the fears associated with that subject, but she communicated her worries about his dour mood, how she knew it was her fault, how she didn't know how to go about apologizing. He listened sympathetically, dried her tears, tried to make her laugh. The laughing thing worked, at least, it worked some of the time. Other times, she just forced a laugh, even if it made her feel worse. She wouldn't tell him that, of course. He only wanted to help.
And Legolas was wrong. He wasn't weak at all, but a Man of real quality, something you couldn't find in a Man very often. It was during one of these sessions, that seemed her only sanctuary of sanity, that her world was flipped irreversably upside down, more so than when Tracie and Forest caught her 'holding hands' with Legolas.
Under this particular circumstance, it was a combination of things that sent her running. Besides her ever-lasting friendship crisis with both Legolas and Forest, Dam was on the edge of her nerves, as all the non-combatants were, and yelled at her, saying things Rosellyn knew she didn't mean, but it hurt all the same, and screaming into her pillow hadn't helped this time, and only got her roommates mad at her. So, she sought out Benvenue in his room and knocked on the door. He opened it, and looked somewhat surprised to see her.
"Oh, well, miss Rosellyn, hello. I mean, good morning. Vedui." She smiled slightly at his attempt at Elvish. Men always thought they were as good as fluent, but his accent was simply terrible.
"Hello, Benvenue." She hesitated, wondering what to say next, but he read her mind for her.
"Do you need to talk again?" She nodded gratefully.
"If-if you're not busy, that would be wonderful." He shook his head and stepped outside, closing the door.
"Not at all. It's not particularly safe for me to join the fighting, and even reading the works that you have here gets dull after awhile. I welcome the change of scenery." She had to concur. Della's little novel project was growing by leaps and bounds, but having nothing to do but twiddle her thumbs all day was maddening. Awaren said that she and a group of other teenagers were 'back up defense' in case something happened, and they should stay fresh, but she wasn't a complete fool. Almost all of them were female, and Awaren didn't want girls to fight. ~We can fight just as good as Legolas and any of them!~ thought Della angrily, as she always did when the subject came up. As she had hastened to add to the story, in this place she came from called America, women could do anything men could do. Sometimes, the place sounded too good to be true. Other times, she wondered how they could ever survive, being bumbling and stupid.
"You're a lifesaver, Benvenue, you really are." To her amusement, he actually blushed. Men could be so confusing, and not just the species. Males in general were the silliest people in Middle Earth.
"Well, I think that's a bit over doing it, miss Rosellyn. I just try to help out a friend in need. Do...do you think..." He seemed to be reluctant to spit it out. She looked at him, mentally egging him on.
"I do think, sir, but what is it in particular that you would like to know?" He looked silly, a grown Man blushing so much.
"I-I apologize. Do you think that it would be safe to maybe find a platform?" She laughed dryly. That was all? By the Valar, Men were strange creatures.
"You mean one that isn't occupied by archers? I don't know. Well," she stopped, hesitating. There was a chance...
"Well what?" he asked, a bit more like his former self. That assured her enough to continue the thought.
"There's a platform that maybe only the younger Elves and Linka and Awaren know about, but it's exposed if the Riders are on that side..." Voicing her doubts out loud made them all the more obvious. Benvenue, however, shrugged, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her off.
"Being shot at is preferable to sitting here until I die of old age, miss Rosellyn. Lead on." She wrenched her arm free and walked off in the opposite direction.
"That's all well and good, but it's this way." He laughed, a real laugh, and followed. It was nice to make him laugh. She led him through the maze of hallways. She had never thought of it as such--a maze--but the more she became cooped up in here, the more obvious it became that the walls were closing in. Della called it something weird--claustrophobia, that was it,--but Men were always just trying to make things more confusing than was strictly necessary. This hallway was eerily empty. Where the Riders making an attack? She didn't quite understand this. The Riders must have some sort of plan, or they wouldn't have dared to try and seige them. But so far, all they did was sit and uselessly try to shoot arrows at them. That couldn't be their plan, to make the Elves die of starvation. It was very unsettling. The more she tried to follow that thought, the more confused she became. Not to mention frustrating. What WERE they up to?
No, she shouldn't think about that. This was her time to unwind, enjoy Benvenue's company. She DID enjoy it, truth to tell. She needed this, to keep her sanity.
She stopped by what looked like an empty stretch of wall. Was this it? She wasn't sure. She felt very confused today. No, this was it. Benvenue looked at her questioningly, but she ignored his attempts to interrogate her. She ran her hands over the decorative frieze. This had to be it; confused or not, she couldn't possibly forget this. Her hands stopped moving and she looked over her shoulder at Benvenue.
"I'll take this time to point out that I was born and raised here, spent all of my childhood in this house. Now, do you have anything intelligent to add to this conversation?" She turned back around, hearing his teeth click shut. Most satisfying. There, she had it. The body of a creature that surely didn't exist--though Della insisted it was something called a tiger, whatever that was--was a handle. She gripped it and pulled, listening to Benvenue's gasp of surprise with smug complacency. It was always fun, putting males in their place. Which was, of course, below the females. Of course.
Making an elegant curtsy, which she only ever did in class before this, she showed him out. She wondered why she didn't wear dresses more often; the elegant sigh of her skirts was wonderful as she swept her finest.
"This way, heruamin Benvenue. The hidden platform of Linka's home." Shaking his head in amused amazement, Benvenue stepped through.
"Ah, you honor me, arwenamin Rosellyn. That is quite clever." Giggling, she spoiled the moment and haphazardly yanked it shut behind them. She didn't notice, however, that it had bounced open from her inattention to pulling it hard enough.
There were Riders, but few enough, and from this distance, they might mistake Benvenue for an Elf. They certainly weren't shooting, or doing anything threatening. Perhaps they hadn't even noticed their arrival. She had to hold to that 'perhaps'. Benvenue scanned the shore line, face tightening at the sight of the Riders. However, he merely looked at her over his shoulder and smiled.
"That dress is quite beautiful, miss Rosellyn. The green brings out your eyes." She had been told this thousands of times before, of course, but she curtsied again. The sound the cloth made made her feel like a real lady.
"You are too kind," she murmured, just as her teacher had drilled into her head. She would never have thought that she would ever have to use it, but she blessed her for it. Then, she giggled and sat down cross-legged on the edge of the platform. It was graceful, compared to Benvenue's awkward attempt to duplicate the action. Why she noticed all this was startling to her. She had never met a Man in her life before this, she had grown up completely among Elves. She had never thought of herself as very graceful; if anything, she was counted a bit clumsy. Legolas, of course, had a natural grace about him that she definetely did not posess. But next to Benvenue, she was just as graceful as Legolas. Very odd, indeed.
"Miss Rosellyn..." She jerked her eyes away from the camping Riders. "You...are a very...interesting...young lady." She frowned slightly. This was very unlike him.
"Well, thank you. Is that a compliment?" He tripped over his tongue responding.
"Yes, yes, of course! But...yes, a compliment." He fell silent. She chewed her lip worriedly. Della was poking at the back of her mind, trying to say something. She shoved her friend's voice back to the smallest of annoyances.
"Benvenue, are you feeling all right?"
"Yes. I've never been better, miss Rosellyn. But..." Slowly, still frowning and chewing her lip, she started to stand. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "No, please, don't go. Stay here. I'm trying to say something, but I'm obviously not doing a very good job of it." Just as slowly, she sat down.
"Okay, I'll stay. But here's a tip: spit it out." He smiled slightly.
"As you say, I'll spit it out. But I don't think I'll find this easy." He took a deep breath. But couldn't say any more. She rolled her eyes. Della started screaming, but Rosellyn grimly shoved her back even further. With a small wince, Della had apparently re-discovered the needle poking trick. But with the way she was shoved back, it was only a mild discomfort. Nothing Della had to say could be this important.
Suddenly, with scant warning that even her Elven senses hadn't attuned her to, Benvenue grabbed her arms and pulled her close. He was KISSING her! With the shock, Della emerged once again. ~Why the hell don't you *listen* to me?! I was trying to tell you that he was about to do that! Yeesh, next time, why don't you listen when I try to tell you something?!~ Rosellyn was in no mood whatsoever. -You know what, this is really not a good time, okay? Maybe later.- If Della had eyes, she would have been rolling them out of her head.
A/N: And things don't just stop there...
A/N: Sorry to hear about any internet trouble anyone might have had; I had no problem seeing the chapter myself, but be that as it may... Things get very interesting here on out. Enjoy! Read on!
Chapter 21-Unexpected Advances
The seige looked ready to last for quite awhile, and if it went on too long, the Elves would most definitely be at a disadvantage. The Riders could get whatever food they wanted from the forest, as well as wood for weapons. If they constantly shot arrows, the Elves would slowly but surely run out. But the Riders' bows had little to no range, so they just sat around all day and watched the Riders lose arrows. For the more seasoned Elves, this was great fun. They would bet on how far they would go, and swap little things as wagers.
Legolas, at the other end of the spectrum, seemed in a constantly sour mood, baffling Tracie and Forest, not to mention Rosellyn herself. Benvenue, however, offered a constant shoulder to cry on, and she often took advantage of that. She didn't tell everything, of course; her crush on Legolas, and the fears associated with that subject, but she communicated her worries about his dour mood, how she knew it was her fault, how she didn't know how to go about apologizing. He listened sympathetically, dried her tears, tried to make her laugh. The laughing thing worked, at least, it worked some of the time. Other times, she just forced a laugh, even if it made her feel worse. She wouldn't tell him that, of course. He only wanted to help.
And Legolas was wrong. He wasn't weak at all, but a Man of real quality, something you couldn't find in a Man very often. It was during one of these sessions, that seemed her only sanctuary of sanity, that her world was flipped irreversably upside down, more so than when Tracie and Forest caught her 'holding hands' with Legolas.
Under this particular circumstance, it was a combination of things that sent her running. Besides her ever-lasting friendship crisis with both Legolas and Forest, Dam was on the edge of her nerves, as all the non-combatants were, and yelled at her, saying things Rosellyn knew she didn't mean, but it hurt all the same, and screaming into her pillow hadn't helped this time, and only got her roommates mad at her. So, she sought out Benvenue in his room and knocked on the door. He opened it, and looked somewhat surprised to see her.
"Oh, well, miss Rosellyn, hello. I mean, good morning. Vedui." She smiled slightly at his attempt at Elvish. Men always thought they were as good as fluent, but his accent was simply terrible.
"Hello, Benvenue." She hesitated, wondering what to say next, but he read her mind for her.
"Do you need to talk again?" She nodded gratefully.
"If-if you're not busy, that would be wonderful." He shook his head and stepped outside, closing the door.
"Not at all. It's not particularly safe for me to join the fighting, and even reading the works that you have here gets dull after awhile. I welcome the change of scenery." She had to concur. Della's little novel project was growing by leaps and bounds, but having nothing to do but twiddle her thumbs all day was maddening. Awaren said that she and a group of other teenagers were 'back up defense' in case something happened, and they should stay fresh, but she wasn't a complete fool. Almost all of them were female, and Awaren didn't want girls to fight. ~We can fight just as good as Legolas and any of them!~ thought Della angrily, as she always did when the subject came up. As she had hastened to add to the story, in this place she came from called America, women could do anything men could do. Sometimes, the place sounded too good to be true. Other times, she wondered how they could ever survive, being bumbling and stupid.
"You're a lifesaver, Benvenue, you really are." To her amusement, he actually blushed. Men could be so confusing, and not just the species. Males in general were the silliest people in Middle Earth.
"Well, I think that's a bit over doing it, miss Rosellyn. I just try to help out a friend in need. Do...do you think..." He seemed to be reluctant to spit it out. She looked at him, mentally egging him on.
"I do think, sir, but what is it in particular that you would like to know?" He looked silly, a grown Man blushing so much.
"I-I apologize. Do you think that it would be safe to maybe find a platform?" She laughed dryly. That was all? By the Valar, Men were strange creatures.
"You mean one that isn't occupied by archers? I don't know. Well," she stopped, hesitating. There was a chance...
"Well what?" he asked, a bit more like his former self. That assured her enough to continue the thought.
"There's a platform that maybe only the younger Elves and Linka and Awaren know about, but it's exposed if the Riders are on that side..." Voicing her doubts out loud made them all the more obvious. Benvenue, however, shrugged, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her off.
"Being shot at is preferable to sitting here until I die of old age, miss Rosellyn. Lead on." She wrenched her arm free and walked off in the opposite direction.
"That's all well and good, but it's this way." He laughed, a real laugh, and followed. It was nice to make him laugh. She led him through the maze of hallways. She had never thought of it as such--a maze--but the more she became cooped up in here, the more obvious it became that the walls were closing in. Della called it something weird--claustrophobia, that was it,--but Men were always just trying to make things more confusing than was strictly necessary. This hallway was eerily empty. Where the Riders making an attack? She didn't quite understand this. The Riders must have some sort of plan, or they wouldn't have dared to try and seige them. But so far, all they did was sit and uselessly try to shoot arrows at them. That couldn't be their plan, to make the Elves die of starvation. It was very unsettling. The more she tried to follow that thought, the more confused she became. Not to mention frustrating. What WERE they up to?
No, she shouldn't think about that. This was her time to unwind, enjoy Benvenue's company. She DID enjoy it, truth to tell. She needed this, to keep her sanity.
She stopped by what looked like an empty stretch of wall. Was this it? She wasn't sure. She felt very confused today. No, this was it. Benvenue looked at her questioningly, but she ignored his attempts to interrogate her. She ran her hands over the decorative frieze. This had to be it; confused or not, she couldn't possibly forget this. Her hands stopped moving and she looked over her shoulder at Benvenue.
"I'll take this time to point out that I was born and raised here, spent all of my childhood in this house. Now, do you have anything intelligent to add to this conversation?" She turned back around, hearing his teeth click shut. Most satisfying. There, she had it. The body of a creature that surely didn't exist--though Della insisted it was something called a tiger, whatever that was--was a handle. She gripped it and pulled, listening to Benvenue's gasp of surprise with smug complacency. It was always fun, putting males in their place. Which was, of course, below the females. Of course.
Making an elegant curtsy, which she only ever did in class before this, she showed him out. She wondered why she didn't wear dresses more often; the elegant sigh of her skirts was wonderful as she swept her finest.
"This way, heruamin Benvenue. The hidden platform of Linka's home." Shaking his head in amused amazement, Benvenue stepped through.
"Ah, you honor me, arwenamin Rosellyn. That is quite clever." Giggling, she spoiled the moment and haphazardly yanked it shut behind them. She didn't notice, however, that it had bounced open from her inattention to pulling it hard enough.
There were Riders, but few enough, and from this distance, they might mistake Benvenue for an Elf. They certainly weren't shooting, or doing anything threatening. Perhaps they hadn't even noticed their arrival. She had to hold to that 'perhaps'. Benvenue scanned the shore line, face tightening at the sight of the Riders. However, he merely looked at her over his shoulder and smiled.
"That dress is quite beautiful, miss Rosellyn. The green brings out your eyes." She had been told this thousands of times before, of course, but she curtsied again. The sound the cloth made made her feel like a real lady.
"You are too kind," she murmured, just as her teacher had drilled into her head. She would never have thought that she would ever have to use it, but she blessed her for it. Then, she giggled and sat down cross-legged on the edge of the platform. It was graceful, compared to Benvenue's awkward attempt to duplicate the action. Why she noticed all this was startling to her. She had never met a Man in her life before this, she had grown up completely among Elves. She had never thought of herself as very graceful; if anything, she was counted a bit clumsy. Legolas, of course, had a natural grace about him that she definetely did not posess. But next to Benvenue, she was just as graceful as Legolas. Very odd, indeed.
"Miss Rosellyn..." She jerked her eyes away from the camping Riders. "You...are a very...interesting...young lady." She frowned slightly. This was very unlike him.
"Well, thank you. Is that a compliment?" He tripped over his tongue responding.
"Yes, yes, of course! But...yes, a compliment." He fell silent. She chewed her lip worriedly. Della was poking at the back of her mind, trying to say something. She shoved her friend's voice back to the smallest of annoyances.
"Benvenue, are you feeling all right?"
"Yes. I've never been better, miss Rosellyn. But..." Slowly, still frowning and chewing her lip, she started to stand. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "No, please, don't go. Stay here. I'm trying to say something, but I'm obviously not doing a very good job of it." Just as slowly, she sat down.
"Okay, I'll stay. But here's a tip: spit it out." He smiled slightly.
"As you say, I'll spit it out. But I don't think I'll find this easy." He took a deep breath. But couldn't say any more. She rolled her eyes. Della started screaming, but Rosellyn grimly shoved her back even further. With a small wince, Della had apparently re-discovered the needle poking trick. But with the way she was shoved back, it was only a mild discomfort. Nothing Della had to say could be this important.
Suddenly, with scant warning that even her Elven senses hadn't attuned her to, Benvenue grabbed her arms and pulled her close. He was KISSING her! With the shock, Della emerged once again. ~Why the hell don't you *listen* to me?! I was trying to tell you that he was about to do that! Yeesh, next time, why don't you listen when I try to tell you something?!~ Rosellyn was in no mood whatsoever. -You know what, this is really not a good time, okay? Maybe later.- If Della had eyes, she would have been rolling them out of her head.
A/N: And things don't just stop there...