10. Whispers and Watchers

"What you have to understand about males in general is that we have alarmingly short attention spans." Elladan said with a grin as he and Indelin walked together in the garden.

"How does that knowledge help me?" she asked biting her lip again.

"You must realize, when pursuing any elf, that you have a very narrow window of opportunity to make yourself noticed." he replied.

"Even if I should be able to recognize the opportunity I would have no idea of how to make myself noticed." she giggled. "At this point I would be happy to make a bad impression rather than none at all."

"Some elleths will, doubtless, tell you that any recognition is preferable to invisibility" he chuckled "but as an experienced male I can tell you how very important it is to be noticed for the right reasons."

"What is it that I'm doing wrong?" she asked crinkling her brow as she looked up at him.

"Well, most elves prefer a maiden with a bit of confidence" he smiled, pausing on the path. "You're quite lovely when you show off your features but no one can notice them if you persist in hiding them." Indelin blushed furiously, looking down at her toes, her hair falling over her face.

"See, there is your problem." he teased, hooking a finger under her chin and raising her eyes to meet his. "Head high, yes that's it, now shoulders back." Indelin drew herself up to her full height, still not quite daring to meet his gaze.

"Now look at me." he said seriously. Their eyes met and he noticed she was trembling slightly.

"You must always look us in the eye." he smirked "If you do not, we will take advantage of you and no sensible elf has any interest in a maid who cannot think for herself."

"You're a bit intimidating." Indelin whispered, still looking into his eyes.

"Of course I am." Elladan laughed as they continued walking "I am a head taller than you and twice as confident."

"I could be twice as confident if only I had some idea of what it is males want." she sighed, plucking a leaf from a nearby bush and toying with it absently.

"Well elves like Orophin are only interested one thing." Elladan replied drily. He could say this with relative confidence since it was the only thing that ever captured his own interest.

"Really, what is it?" Indelin asked, sounding just a bit excited and hopeful. Elladan looked down into her innocent upturned face. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"Ah, it is not important." he said, hastily changing the subject. "Indelin, do you think, perhaps we should find you someone else to snare?"

"I am certainly open for suggestions." she sighed dismally. Elladan thought a moment. He had to admit to himself that he didn't really know many elves he would trust with Indelin. Orophin might be a rogue but at least he would be a gentleman about it. He might lose interest if she wanted nothing more than a kiss but he wouldn't seduce her.

"Well, let's keep your options open shall we?" he smiled. "Now tomorrow while our Lorien guests are practicing on the ranges will be the perfect time for you to make yourself noticed. But you must have a careful plan of attack."

"You make it sound as if I were charging down orcs." she giggled.

"Believe me," Elladan teased "lovers games and war games differ only in their signs of victory. Now, here is what we will do..."

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After two hours Meril had given up hope of ever finding her prince. Orophin seemed to have given up no hope at all. He wandered the gardens with her, smiling adoringly, offering his arm, and laughing at her disparaging remarks against him as if she were joking.

"Sweet Meril," He said with his most disarming grin. "I can not understand why such a lovely, intelligent and gracious maiden such as yourself has not wed. You seem perfect in every particular, from your wit and humor to your unmatched beauty."

"It is quite simple," Meril replied scathingly "Prince Legolas has not asked me yet." There, she had said it and she looked at him triumphantly as if her declaration had melted all his hopes.

"Really?" he asked with a slight frown "He must be completely mad then." Meril looked at him dumb struck. It wasn't exactly the reaction she had been expecting.

"Goodnight Orophin!" she snarled, her eyes flaming in anger. She spun on her heel stalking back to the house.

"Good night meleth nin!" he called after her, grinning happily. He sighed to himself contentedly. "Lucky me that the prince is such a blind idiot."

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"I am curious about one thing," Elrohir teased as Eirien leaned on his arm with a smile she reserved only for Elladan. "How is it that you can tell my brother and I apart when our own father confuses us?" Eirien blushed, giggling.

"I can only tell you apart when you are together." she said with a grin. "Elrohir does not carry himself with your confidence."

"Aye, well, he is a bit shy." Elrohir replied, trying not to sigh dismally. "He is a good elf though."

"I am sure he is." Eirien said sincerely "but not quite like you."

"Nay," This conversation was going in a direction he found a bit uncomfortable and he thought it best to divert it to safer ground "but tell me of your interests my dear, besides relentlessly pursuing elves." Eirien tried to stifle a laugh.

"I am studying to be a scribe." she said proudly, "most of my spare time I spend reading."

"You sound like my brother Estel." Elrohir chuckled, brushing the tip of her nose with his thumb "He always has his nose in a book."

"Perhaps I should pursue the young human instead." she grinned. Elrohir couldn't help but laugh.

"He would be an easy catch as he is hardly old enough to have learned how to elude a maid yet."

"Well, where is the challenge in that?" she asked with a mock frown.

"You are quite surprising, Eirien." Elrohir said seriously. He had grown used to giggling girls without a shred of sense who all but threw themselves at him. Eirien was bubbly and charming but there was nothing silly about her.

"Surprising enough to warrant more of your attention in the future?" she asked, staring him down. It was rare that an elleth would speak to him so boldly and he found he rather liked it.

"Perhaps." he replied, desperately trying to measure his response as the butterflies fluttered in his chest.

"Good." She said with a satisfied smile.

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Aragorn and Arwen walked the gardens arm in arm under the moonless sky, the soft sound of her laughter whispering on the air. She smiled at him with an expression that made his heart race, though he wasn't sure why. He had never seen anything so breathtaking in all his young life and he couldn't help but wish she would laugh again.

"Did you hear something?" A low voice whispered from under a hedge of lilacs.

"I hear much." her companion answered breathlessly, "There are more lovers trysting in this garden than orcs in Mordor."

"Celeborn, someone approaches." The elf lord looked up at his wife with a perturbed frown. If he moved, even slightly, he would taste her sweet lips. Her hands gripped his shoulders, holding him firm against the ground and he considered for a moment turning the tables on her.

"Meleth nin, you have toyed with me quite long enough." he said darkly. He caressed her hips as if to emphasize his point. Her graceful body pressed against him was making him ache with need.

"I am not toying." she frowned and in a moment he had to acknowledge her truthfulness. He could hear a light giggle, and the soft rustle of feet on the path.

"Sweet Elbereth, do not let them tryst here." he hissed angrily. His wife laid a gentle hand over his mouth, pushing up from his chest for a better look.

"What do you see my fair temptress?" he asked as she leaned forward, until her breasts were near his face. She glanced down at him with a dark frown, her look warning him to behave.

"I do not think they will stop." she whispered. "They are only taking a walk." she squinted into the darkness, her curiosity getting the better of her as her distracted husband tenderly kissed her breasts through her gown.

Celeborn was not to be stalled. Galadriel had been groping him for hours when she had been certain no one was watching. It seemed to be a favored past time of hers. He let his hands slip up her back and he pulled her close, pressing his face between her breasts as she squirmed, his other hand slipping under her gown. She let out a soft moan as he teased her inner thighs, his fingertips barely brushing her arousal.

Galadriel bit her lip to stifle a moan, tangling her fingers in Celeborn's tunic as his velvet lips trailed kisses between her breasts. Both hands were under her gown now, caressing her as he pressed her body close to his.

She heard a voice she thought familiar and she turned her eyes back to the path, despite the distraction of her husband fumbling with his leggings. She drew in a startled gasp, her whole body tense and her eyes grew wide, almost in terror as she climbed over her lover for a better look.

"Galadriel remove your knee!" Celeborn said angrily, his voice a bit higher than normal. She glanced down at him again and she blushed as she realized that she had pinned him in a most unfortunate location. She crawled off of him quickly, slithering forward in the grass.

"What has you so distracted that you would damage the source of both our pleasures my lady?" he asked with a frown, wincing as he rubbed himself. She did not answer, her breathing shallow and rapid as she stared through the hedge.

"meleth nin?" he whispered more gently this time, he followed her gaze and his eyes fell upon the last thing he had ever expected to see.

His granddaughter and foster grandson were holding hands like lovers as they walked together and he drew in a shaky breath. There was a warmth in his pen neth's eyes he had not seen in so very long that the look was a distant memory. A memory of happier times and untarnished innocence.

An angry sneer formed on his face and his body coiled, like a cat ready to spring but before he could move he felt his wife's hand on his arm, her fingernails digging into his flesh through his shirt.

"You will not." she breathed, her voice breaking.

"I will not what!" he snapped angrily, his tone menacing. "I will not save her from certain death?" He looked on his bride to find her gazing back at him, tears streaming from her sparkling blue eyes.

"We cannot interfere," she whispered, her voice nearly a sob. "all the hope of middle-earth will depend on this."

"You cannot be serious." he breathed, tears welling up in his own eyes at the implication of her words, their earlier conversation flooding back to him. Her senses were finely attuned, for all his teasing she had never been wrong before.

"What have you seen?" he whispered.

"The return of the king." she replied, "and the grace of the Eldar in the son of the last heir of Isildur."

"And if Aragorn cannot reclaim the throne of Gondor?" he asked.

"Blackness" she answered "and death." he looked back out onto the path. There was an innocence in them that he recognized immediately, it was the same adoring look Galadriel had given him when they once walked the gardens of Doriath, too unsure to speak their hearts. He almost chuckled when he realized that Arwen was like her grandmother in preferring younger men. He threw off the thought, it did not matter.

"Then let Mordor come." he whispered savagely "I would burn all Lorien to the ground sooner than sacrifice Arwen."

"You and I both know that even if the power of the Valar were ours we could not unmake their choice." she replied. "We must not interfere. As you love your people, as you love me, we must allow this."

"She is our granddaughter." he said quietly.

"And she is a woman." Galadriel sighed, her body sagging in resignation as she rested her head against his chest. "If she chooses to love then it is her choice. You know the price if we attempt to tear her from it."

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meleth nin - my love

pen neth - little one

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Author's Note - Next week, the twins get a surprise.

The rough draft is about 3/4 finished but I'm marooned on Ch18, so I won't be updating more than once a week at least until I can figure out what Legolas is going to do about Meril.

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Converted - I always read the Appendices the same way I read the Sil. It's a history book, what's a history book but a paraphrase? Even elves don't talk like that. I think you're going to have to add 'poor Celeborn' to the list but don't worry he'll be *up* for more fun later. As you so kindly pointed out, it is rated R.

dragonfly - you know what they say, opposites attract. And if you think the twins are making trouble for themselves now, just wait.

b-witched - I'm... speechless, thankfully I can still type. Ch9 was really a hard chapter to write, I didn't want to lose the essence of Tolkien's historical account so I had a rough time sticking to cannon while warming up the dialog. I think I set a new record for number of times the LOTR appendix A was read in a week.

grumpy - don't be hasty, Aragorn sans-leggings is coming soon

Angels S.C. - Wow, thanks... I think.