Chapter XIV: Home Sweet Home

The horde of elven riders crossed the final bridge and rode to the center of the tree city, where they dismounted. Aragorn sighed to himself; in its glory days, the warriors would have received a warm welcome from Lothlorien's inhabitants. Now there were less than 100 elves in the whole city, accompanied by about 2,000 men.

Aragorn heard Celebdraug slide off the back of his horse and ask him if she could leave. Before he could answer, he felt someone take his hand. He turned and looked down, and his eyes met those of his wife, Arwen. Aragorn slid off the horse and took her in his arms, and the two kissed for a long moment.

"Get a room," Celebdraug muttered, turning away and walking over to Mordae, who was still chatting with Glorfindel.

"That was a pretty awesome move Aragorn pulled back there, eh?" Mordae commented as she approached his cousin.

Celebdraug glanced over her shoulder at Aragorn and Arwen. "That?"

Mordae followed her gaze, then smiled and shook his head. "No, the flood thing."

"Oh, that? Seen it."

"Done it," Glorfindel boasted with a smile.

The other two elves laughed.

"I'm starving," Mordae said. "Let's go get something to eat."

"Amen to that," Celebdraug agreed emphatically. "Glorfindel, care to join us?"

"I would love to, but I have my own affairs to tend to," the Silvan elf answered with a small, mischievous grin.

"Glorfindel's got a girlfriend," Celebdraug sang to herself as she turned and began heading for the mess hall.

"Man, how can a puny little punk like you get a girl like Niphredil, but I can't?" Mordae whined to his friend, following him for a few meters.

"It could be the fact that you look more like you would kill somebody, rather than date them," Glorfindel offered.

Mordae grinned and spun one of his daggers absent-mindedly in his hand, "The walking armory not exactly a turn-on for her?"

"Something like that."

"How 'bout these?" Mordae said, flexing his gargantuan muscles.

"Again, I don't muscles larger than the girls' heads is a good thing."

The giant's shoulders sagged in mock depression. "I can't help it. I'm just too hot."

"Mordae, my friend," Glorfindel consoled with a laugh, putting his arm over the taller elf's shoulders, "You'll find your match. In the meantime," the Silvan turned and began to walk away, "I've got mine to tend to. Namarie1."

"Namarie," Mordae muttered, and with a shake of his head, he followed his cousin.

Celebdraug smiled as Mordae approached. She poked him in the chest, "Ha-ha. Nobody likes you."

Mordae poked Celebdraug on her forehead, "Let's go eat."

"Yummy food."

Just before the two reached the dining hall, a wise looking old man dressed in all white, including his hair, burst through the doors.

"Gandalf!" the elves cried joyously.

The old wizard smiled as a father smiles at his children as he hugged Celebdraug, who arrived first. Mordae grabbed them both in his arms and lifted them up.

Gandalf laughed, "My children! It is good to see you alive and well!"

"No thanks to that last mission. That's the last time I spend 20 years in a foreign region trying to save a bunch of ungrateful people," Celebdraug groaned with a smile as Mordae released them.

"Not as fun as you had thought it would be?" Gandalf inquired knowingly.

"No. Not nearly as fun," Mordae answered.

"And the Drow? What of them?" Gandalf asked.

The two elves looked at one another and raised their eyebrows.

"Care to come and eat in our house so we can discuss?" Celebdraug offered to Gandalf.

"That well, eh?" the wizard responded with a shake of his head.

"I'm getting food first," Mordae insisted.

Gandalf chuckled and tapped the ground with the white staff he carried.

With a crack, a cart covered with all varieties of elven foods appeared beside them.

Celebdraug turned in awe to the cart, then back to Gandalf.

"Teach me that one."

The elves and Gandalf made their way through the passageways amongst the trees in Lothlorien for quite some time until they came to a colossal green and gold toned mansion built in and around the trees. Gandalf, who was in the lead, reached for the door handle and felt it unlock at his touch. He smiled and opened the massive door, stepping into the dark entryway.

Behind him, Celebdraug placed her hand on the wall, causing flames to leap up on candles and torches all around the mansion.

"Home, sweet home," she said to nobody in particular as she entered, sliding past Gandalf and walking through an archway leading to a closet, where she dropped her backpack and weapons.

Gandalf smiled and then stood, taking in the beauty of the tapestries hanging in the entryway.

He was always amazed at the size of Mordae and Celebdraug's home and the artifacts it held. They had amassed quite a lot of wealth over the years, and what they could not buy, they took as 'spoils of war' whenever they conquered fortresses or cities.

He followed the two Noldor as they walked happily through their mansion, looking over the home they had not seen for twenty years as they fought the Drow in the south.

The three walked through a room filled with swords and other weapons of hundreds of kings and heroes, all with little golden plaques telling of who owned them and how the weapons were recovered.

Gandalf stopped and stood in amazement at the sight of two huge maces hung side by side. He read the plaques, "Grond-Hammer of the Underworld", and, "The Mace of Sauron-The Weapon that Felled Earendil."

The wizard laughed amusedly, "How in Ea did you get these?"

"We're special," Mordae said with a mischievous grin.

"I picked them up at a thrift store the other century. Quite a steal, really," Celebdraug added with a grin.

"Literally, I would assume," Gandalf responded with a twinkle in his eye.

"Hey," Mordae said defensively, "Nobody claimed them. Nobody could lift them, for crying out loud."

Gandalf shook his head and followed the elves to a room filled with the crowns of rulers from the past that had been defeated. An enormous black crown topped off this collection, with an inscription in the original black tongue.

"Morgoth's crown?" Gandalf said in shock.

"It was a two for one buy," Celebdraug said, grabbing Gandalf's arm and leading him from the room.

The tour ended with the entrance into a room with walls and a roof of pure, transparent crystal that blurred the stars above into a collage of light.

"You know," Gandalf said as he entered, "For two rogue warriors, your house rivals a combination of the greatest palaces and museums in history."

"Like I said," Mordae replied as he sank into an exotic looking elven chair and held out a hand to an adjacent one for Gandalf to sit in, "We're special."

The wizard sat with a nod, and Celebdraug drew a chair up to form a triangle for them to sit at, the food cart in the middle.

"Foooood..." she murmured as she grabbed a plate, piled it with elven delicacies, and began eating. Mordae quickly followed her example.

While the elves ate hungrily, Gandalf shared gossip of the various empires and peoples of Middle Earth that had occurred while the elves were on mission. He did not mention anything important or any information about the wars, wanting to save those talks until he had the elves' undivided attention.

The three talked and laughed until the sun had sunken behind the trees.

When at last the two elves laid their dishes aside, Gandalf spoke a word of command, and the cart and plates vanished with a small flash.

"Make yourselves comfortable," Gandalf said, "This could take a while."

1 Farewell