Author's Note: Here's the fourth chapter, please excuse it's tardiness!
Tangle skimmed her long fingers through the fountain's drak waters, the tiniest of ripples being sent out, disturbing the incredibly clear reflection of the sparkling stars. Tangle had taken to the fountain, and the garden in general for that matter, as a sort of haven. She spent her nights in her make-shift hammock that still rested below the small balcony, and spent a lot of the cool evenings merely sitting by the fountain's trickling waters. When she couldn't be found there she was usually making her way through the palace, finding the antics of the nobles very amusing indeed. Granted, the constant tripping might have been attributed to the thin piece of string she had been able to acquire and set up across the hall, unfortunately they didn't seem to share in her humor very much. Well, you couldn't please everyone all the time now could you?
For the short week or so she had been there the palace had slowly but surely filled up with different elves. Being able to change her size to that of a flea had served quite useful as it helped her pick up interesting tid bits around the palace. Among other things she had been able to learn that the masquerade ball that was currently going on inside was merely the beginning of a long list of events such as archery tournaments, feasts, city tours, and several other formal occasions.
Tangle remembered her arrival, what that elleth had said about Legolas's advisors being behind this. She couldn't help but think of all the trouble they would have gone through to set all of this up; why all the fuss to find someone else a wife? It seemed more than a bit odd to her fairy mind. Fairies were firm believers in fate; going where the tides led you, an interference such as this seemed like an unnecessary hassle. Tangle may not have been a romantic, but all the same, love wasn't something you were plotted and pushed into, of that she was sure.
Tangle folded her arms behind her head and let herself lay against the cold stone of the fountain, her gaze remaining on the stars. From here she could hear the loud conversing of the many elves inside the ballroom. The soft music of a stringed instrument seemed to float through the air, penetrating the crowd's chatter, making its way down to her, it's melody a bewitching and beguiling sound.
She found herself sitting back upwards, before her wings twitched into life, slowly bringing her upwards and towards the music.She hadn't planned on going anywhere near the festivities, being squashed not a very appealing idea to her at the moment, but she found herslef almost being pulled there by the joyful shouts of excitement, and the appealing music.
The sounds brought her around to a different side of the castle into a larger garden than the last. Maybe it was because she had gained a personal attatchment to the smaller garden, but this one didn't seem as nice to her. While the first garden seemed to be there for the beauty of the plants, this seemed to have been made for mingling and impressing. Indeed, the fountain that she found was much grander than her own fountain, there were also many stone pathways for people to walk through, as well as the occasional bench.
She let her feet fall against the hard stone of the fountain's edge, before sitting down. There was a large balcony above, large enough for several couple to dance upon for sure, but only one lone figure stood agasint it's creamy white coloring. Wondering what kind of person would seek solace on the balcony while everyone else, clearly seemed to be having a marvelous time inside, Tangle found her looking towards the elf's face, only to be pleasantly surprised to find Legolas standing with blank features towards the garden, a silver goblet of what she guessed to be wine in one of his hands
She had spent much of her time at the palace sitting on the high bookshelves within his study, being content with merely looking down as he worked or read. She noticed he had the strange habit of gazing out of the window for the longest of times, with an unidentifiable look across his light features. At times like that she would catch herself with her chin resting against her palms, a silly smile crossing her lips, identical to what she was doing at this very moment.
She wasn't sure what it was about the two of them being the only ones outside of the crowds, even if they weren't together, that made her stomache feel funny. It was like everything was moving around in there.
Whatever it was that had been moving around in there suddenly compacted into a very heavy ball and dropped into her stomache, as a tall elleth in a royal blue gown and mask matching that of what she had seen Enelya showing off, walk onto the balconly, swiftly approacing Legolas.
The dropping in her stomache seemed to cause a chain reaction as the corners of her mouth swiftly dragged themselves down until her face was set in a definate scowl of anger.
Legolas must have heard her approaching as he turned around to greet her, a smile on his face which only caused Tangle's frown to deepen. She watched as she dipped into an annoyingly graceful curtsy, before he took her hand and placed a light kiss upon it.
She watched as the elleth placed a small hand against his shoulder as she spoke, to Tangle's annoyance she could not hear what was being said from this distance. Without much second thought or hesitance she was flying up towards the balcony with jealousy fueled speed. Her uncovered feet hit the rough surface of the balcony's floor,on the outside of the white columns around it, which served as a good hiding, and eavesdropping, place for the tiny fairy. She was rather close to the two and had to crane her neck upwards to watch them, but their voices were much clearer now.
"It seems the magnificence of The Emerald Wood has out done it's famous reputation on this beautiful night. I dare say there isn't a forein creature within that isn't positively green with envy, Your Highness.", said Enelya, her voice positively dripping with sugar. Tangle really hoped none of it landed on her.
Legolas made a noise at the back of his throat before a small smile graced across his lips, "As always, Lady Enelya, you seem to surprise me with your...optimism", his voice was polite, but Tangle could sense a tinge of annoyance within it. Or was she merely hoping she did?
"One cannot help to be in a joyous mood with such festivities as these...and such company as well", she leaned foward more, or to be more specific, her rather large chest began to brush against him in a "subtle" manner. Legolas placed his own hand on top of hers that was still across his chest, gently pulling it off and away from him as he took a step backwards. Tangle smiled.
"We always aspire to be hospitable to our guests. I am pleased to hear you have been enjoying yourself so.", another smile as he lets go of her hand. She whoever, did not let go, her fingers began to brush their way across his wrist and up his forearm as she took another step towards him, invading the little bit of personal space he had just gained merely moments ago.
Tangle swore she actually saw red at that, the red in her vision seemed to carry her foward as she flew upwards, towards the blonde head of that infuriating elleth.
"Yes, I have been enjoying myself very - OW!", Enelya screeched before her hand flew away from the Prince's towards the back of her head. Tangle snickered to herself, letting the couple strands of golden hair currently in her hands drift towards the balcony floor.
"Milady, are you alright?", he exclaimed with a certain tinge of alarm and confusion. She rubbed the back of her head for a moment before seeming embarressed that the "spell" she had over the Prince was broken. She seemed to try and cover up by letting her hand drop towards her skirts before saying, "Why yes, your highness...th-thank you for your concern, my hair must have caught on something" before giving a short laugh.
She began to move her hand back towards his arm, "And as I told you before I - OW!", her hand immediately flew to the back of her head once again.
Legolas was staring at her strangely now, maybe it was because of her earlier explanation and the fact that there was nothing for her hair to be caught upon at the moment. "Milady, are you sure you are well? Would you perhaps prefer to retire for the evening?"
"No!" she shouted a bit too loudly as she struggled to recover her stature, this time immediately leaning extremely close, both hands coming to rest on his chest, he himself seemed a bit abashed.
Enelya did this a bit too quickly, well that was a bit rude of her wasn't it? Not to mention that elves were supposed to be smooth and graceful, and the fact that she was obviously very unsteady on her feet at the moment would be more than enough of a reason to make sure she learned from her mistakes. Yes, Tangle felt herslef flying slightly backwards for momentum before speeding, hands plam out towards the elleth's back. She slammed against her, normally this would have merely been annoying to Enelya, but in her current state of imbalance it was more than enough to send her stumbling into the Prince, his goblet of wine falling against her chest and the front of her dress. Yes, Tangle had merely helped her to improve herself, some people just didn't know what was good for them.
She heard some screeching and such, most likely from Enelya, but she didn't stick around to see the full results of her actions as she was already flying back down towards the fountain. She landed slowly, a frown still marring her features. For some reason that didn't give her the same pleasure she expected it would. It felt like a hollow victory in a way. Why was that?
Tangle looked down into the water, catching the reflections of the stars yet again, and that is when she reached her answer to why she didn't feel like she had won against Enelya.
She looked down at her reflection. She saw herself. She saw Tangle, and for the first time in her entirely long life, she didn't like what she saw. She had never held her looks in high regard, she had always been quite indifferent to them, but now they seemed very important for reasons that were beyond her understanding.
She flew upwards just a bit and flew over the water, turning herself face down, merely an inch from the waters reflecting surface giving her a full view of herself. From this angle the flaws in her physical self seemed to be screaming at her for recognition.
She ran her fingers through her short, light blue hair. It was a nice shade she supposed, but now it seemed as if it weren't. It was blue. It was odd. It was so short that she really had very little to run her hands through. At this she remembered how Enelya's hair had reached well to her waist in waves of shining gold.
She focused on her eyes next. She had large eyes, in an annoyingly bright shade of purple. They really made her seem a bit crazed...although that could be attributed to different reasons as well.
She was very thin too.Too thin. Not only her body but her face as well, she had very sharp features, and a chin that seemed much too strong. She remember a much older fairy who lived back in the tangled roots and tree limbs of the forst floor where she had grown up, she remembered how she had spoken of her chin in amusement, saying it was a warning sign to all that crossed her path that she was more stubborn than anything else they would ever see.
She had truly taken pride in that at the time, so why did it only serve to bring her mood down further to hear the voice repeating them yet again in her head?
A picture of Enelya's face flashed into her mind, as if haunting and taunting her with it's perfection. She had such soft features, that seemed very complimented with the color of her eyes and hair. She seemed so...perfect! Tangle looked at herself and only saw the contradictions, and the different features and colors that seemed to clash together in a very unattractive manner.
Finally, her calloused hands found their way across her body, first falling past her breast area, an area one could easily miss as there was really nothing there to see. They continued down to her hips that seem completely parallel to eachother; not a single curve to speak of.
With a very defeated look upon her face she made her away from the waters to rest on the cool stone of the fountain. She sat there for several moments, her knees pulled up to her chest where her chin rested upon her arms, her face turned towards the now empty balcony. Like was pouring forth from it, carrying sounds of laughter, and the music that just seemed to call to her.
It was a fast tune, adding to the excited shouts from within, they all seemed so happy, dancing within there, the beautiful elleths dancing with the beauitufl elves. Spinning and twirling to enchanting instruments, not a single fault to be found amongst the bunch, all able to enjoy the perfect evening with their perfect partners.
Perfect Legolas. Perfect Enelya. In there. Together. Perfectly.
Anyone else would say they were made for eachother. She was everything a noble elf could want and expect in a wife. Why couldn't she be like Enelya? Sure she was positively maddening to Tangle, but if she appealed to people like Legolas then she had to be doing something right. why couldn't she be that one? Why couldn't she be the elleth to sweep him off his feet? Why couldn't she be the prime example of what an elleth should be? Why couldn't she look like the damned Enelya did?
It was then that realization hit he quite forcefully in the back of the head.. She could look like Enelya! She could be like Enelya! She could be exactly the type of elleth that Legolas would find attractive!
She lifted her head up from her arms, her saddened frown replaced with a determined smirk