A/n: Ah! Hello darlings. I just took a peek at the reviews-
someone named Lyn reviewed, claiming the use of needles was an anachronism-
sweetie, they're explained in this chapter. The chapter describes how the
needles are made within it, based on the mental image I had. ^.^ enjoy!
A/n: 0.0 I am real real sorry about this. Haven't continued it like I should have. I was busy with finishing Labyrinth! Don't be maaaad!!!!!
Disclaimer: 0.0 I don't have it!!!! *points randomly at other people*
Chapter Nine: I Don't Want To
Legala sat stiffly against a tree in a patch of rare sunlight, basking in its rays. Her skin didn't tan easily. And after all, she was holding a parasol.
//Last night, Haldir seemed at a loss. When we got to my room, he looked as though he was expected to kiss me good night, and really didn't want to.// After taking a brief look around to see if anyone was coming, Legala slipped away, a persona, into Legolas.
He sighed. //If only Haldir could be told...//
In truth, Legolas needed time to think about other things than Haldir. After all, one couldn't lie mind-to-mind, and if he wasn't incredibly quick at learning to shield himself from mage probes and learning his lessons, his teachers were going to have to enter his head and help him. But, of course, when they went within his mind...
//They are bound to find out unless I either am an undiscovered prodigy, or if I bribe them. Oh, Valar. Well, at least I know what's going to happen sooner or later.//
Legolas frowned. His dress today was a prim, solemn floral on white linen, with tufts of lace at the sleeves. It was a bit stoic, but Legolas really didn't want to wear a fancy dress unless he had to. The grass on the hard earth beneath him let off a distinct scent as he shifted position.
//Now. Let us try to think rationally about this,// he sternly said to himself and Legala- they were really, in effect, like two seperate people. //If there is no way to avoid having someone enter your mind, what do you do?//
Legolas plucked a daisy and absentmindedly began to weave it into his shimmering blonde hair. He had left it down, with only a few scattered braids, because it had recently been washed and needed to dry. It fell in long, rippling waves in front of his ears and down his back and about his elbows.
//You find someone you can trust with your mind.//
Legolas frowned, but then footsteps broke his train of thought. He looked up as Larien walked by, a reed basket on her back. Larien noticed him too, and with a small wave, she hurried over. Smiling, she sat down beside him.
"Hello, Legolas. Forgive me- I haven't had time to drug my memory away." Legolas smiled back.
"That's all right. Actually, I had a question."
"Ask away." Larien shrugged, her brown hair swept up in an intricate series of loops and twig-thin braids, a few strands falling out. She uncorked a water flask, and took a swig.
"Are you a mage, trained in magic?"
Larien coughed, spluttering, and looked at him in suprise. "Of course. Didn't you know? All healers have to go through magical training, or their powers could lose control. When that happens, a healer with no control over his magic..." Larien shuddered delicately.
"Their magic is attuned to the bodies, minds, and hearts of the people around them. That's what all healers are tuned to. If a healer with no control grew very angry, they wouldn't just burst a blood vessel. They'd burst the blood vessels of the people around them, too." Legolas nodded, thinking it over. He smiled.
"Where are you going?"
Larien jerked a thumb towards the basket on her back. "Treating you took all the needles we had. I'm not an Adept Healer, so I got the job of making more. I need to get Blind Maid thorns, and jewelweed stalks (1)." She looked expectantly towards Legolas. "Do you want to help?" Legolas nodded shyly, and the two got up, dusting their skirts.
//Well. It'll take my mind off of Haldir.// He smiled slyly to himself as he switched into his "Legala-mode".
//And I'm suddenly quite glad that Larien hasn't erased her memory yet. She's a mage... she could train me!//
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Haldir sat back in his Council seat, the wooden bench making his back ache. He had been summoned to the meeting at the first light of dawn and it was around noontime now. Legala was lucky- she had arrived halfway. Someone had brought in a breakfast, but they were all getting a tad bit touchy, now that it was past lunch.
"So," said a Mirkwood delegate, facing Haldir and Rumil. Orophin was out sick- he had gotten a small cold, and Haldir really didn't want him to spread it around the entire council.
"So you are asking us, essentially, for our army?"
Haldir cleared his throat and stood up. "Yes, that is correct, sir. However, owing to the magical nature of our attackers, it would be most welcome if you could send troops battle-hardened against magical attacks. Perhaps even a few mages, in order to instruct our own soldiers?"
"That would indeed help both of our forces, to have a regiment of mages backing the soldiers or even fighting at the front. However, Mirkwood cannot simply send all of its mages over to Lorien! We need to have a backup defense for our own city, and furthermore, we don't know yet if we have mages to spare!" The delegate was red in the face, almost shouting his words across the floor.
Princess Legala coughed politely on her dais, before the arguments rose- again. All eyes immediately turned to her. "Then I suggest that this meeting be called into recess, until the archivists can add up the total census of mages in Eryn Lasgalen, and determine exactly how many we CAN spare." She glared at anyone who looked as though he was about to protest, and then turned to the Archiver.
"Could you please start your search for the census records now? I know it will take a while to sort through that pile." She smiled warmly at the Elf, and he nodded complacently. Then she turned to the Council once more, wincing as her white-gloved hands were pressured. Legala had gotten a lot of pinprick marks on her fingertips from collecting the thorns with Larien, but what she had gotten in return was more than worth it.
Larien had agreed instantly that it would be impossible to have the normal mage teachers enter Legolas' mind. To his relief and delight, she had volunteered to instruct him, or act as an interpreter from the teachers into Legolas' mind. Needless to say, Legolas knew that he had to keep the Council arguing as long as he could. He himself had to be trained first, before the subject of an army came up.
Legala cleared her throat, and smiled at the Council. "I believe it is time for luncheon."
The room cleared as faster that she had ever seen. She hurriedly gestured a page over. "Could you see to it that a meal is sent over to the Archivists? I don't think they've eaten yet." The page nodded, and scampered off.
Thranduil smiled thinly at Legala. She hesitantly smiled back. He nodded. "You are improving. Good work." Then he leaned forward.
"Have you found a teacher for yourself yet?"
Legala nodded, stunned. "Yes. She is the healer-mage who cured me, and she has offered to help instruct me, though I will have to learn swordfighting from someone else."
Thranduil nodded. Then he handed Legala a pile of scrolls that she could barely fit under one arm. He smiled again.
"These are tactical maps of Lorien. Use them well, please." Legala sighed. 'Use them well'. That meant, I expect you to know them by heart before the subject of an army is even considered.
Thranduil rose to his feet, and strode out the door. Legala followed meekly, trying hard not to drop anything that was old and fragile.
******************************************************************
Haldir stretched as he entered the lower Hall, his stomach suddenly roaring for food as the mouthwatering scents passed his way. He sat down in an empty seat near the corner, hoping to hear gossip- any gossip. After all, it was no point to try to listen to the young Elves who were still in love with tales of heroes, and viewed war as honor. But these minds were the minds which would decide his own future. And so he listened.
"Did you think that the third delegate was missing because he didn't feel the need to come? Those disrespectful- oh, he was sick? Thank heavans he didn't attend, he would have given us all some nasty disease."
"I think, myself, that the King ought to have been a little more stern with them. You can't just let those young ones run around with the nobility! Why, that debacle with the Princess-"
"Oh, do be quiet. Can't you see that the Princess is in love with the Marchwarden? Everyone knows that, stupid!"
"I think it's romantic, the two of them finding soulmates in the middle of such an awful crises! And of course, the Princess deserves someone who will love her."
"Young, romantic fool. Who knows what that warden is up to? It's quite obviously a trick of some sort."
"You're an old, sour fool! The Princess can tell if he's the wrong sort, she always can. We all know how she turned your offer down!" There was a circle of friendly chuckles around the table.
"She was too young back when *I* asked. She just laughed at me."
"Probably young enough to be your granddaughter!"
Haldir quietly ate his meal.
//They've made passes at Legala? Why, that's simply ridiculous. They must be at least twice her age.// Haldir paused, shaking his head. //What am I saying? Age means nothing to us. I'm acting ... odd. Like a human.//
//I guess she really is popular. I didn't realize how much her people were devoted to her. Council members, asking quietly for her hand in marriage... I wonder how other people behave?//
He sighed as he gave his tray to the elf on lunch duty with the cook. //Nothing like I do, I'm sure.//
He found himself wandering up the stairs, towards Legala's room. It wasn't strictly approved, but he had been in her room before, so he hoped he could talk to her.
He knocked lightly on the door, and it swung open gently. Legala was sitting over a heap of documents, muttering feverishly. Haldir cleared his throat. "Legala? Can I come in?"
"Mm."
"Is that a yes or a no?"
Legala just gestured to a corner abstractly, not looking up from her work. She nodded her head vaguely, while turning to a new sheet of parchment. Haldir curiously walked over behind her, and peered over her shoulder.
It was baisically a pile of maps of the layout between Lorien and Dimrill. Suprised, he noticed markings of all the usual caves, hills, and landmarks that he saw on his patrol. Legala frowned, and then began to sift through the pile once more.
"What are you looking for?" Haldir asked quietly. Legala sighed.
"I'm trying to find two natural features for the army to camp behind, so we can flank the enemy as he is drawn out. Preferably a line of stone."
Haldir raised his eyebrows. "There aren't any."
Legala turned around and glared at him furiously. "Dolt."
"What!"
"You're living right next to a gigantic mountain range. There is not a single solitary possibility that there are no rocks. This is why Lorien is so far away from Dimrill, to get away from the numerous outcroppings of unfarmable, uninhabitable, treeless ROCKS. If there were no rocks, Lorien would be IN Dimrill Dale, to trade easily with a gigantic port. However, Elves happen to need TREES. There is no FOREST where there are great, heaping piles of ROCKS!"
Haldir quietly sat down, subdued. Legala glared at him for a few long minutes, and then she sniffed, turning back to her work. It was only then that Haldir noticed the small, neatly written sign above the desk.
'Never argue with me when I'm working.
Because I'm right.'
Haldir coughed softly, and decided that this was one of those times to keep his mouth firmly shut.
Legolas himself was frustrated. //I have to finish this. Now. I still haven't met with the Elf who tried to kill me!//
*****tbc*****
A/n: Ha! Now that I have written the last chapter of Labyrinth, I am free to write Intrigue!!! Woot!
A/n: 0.0 I am real real sorry about this. Haven't continued it like I should have. I was busy with finishing Labyrinth! Don't be maaaad!!!!!
Disclaimer: 0.0 I don't have it!!!! *points randomly at other people*
Chapter Nine: I Don't Want To
Legala sat stiffly against a tree in a patch of rare sunlight, basking in its rays. Her skin didn't tan easily. And after all, she was holding a parasol.
//Last night, Haldir seemed at a loss. When we got to my room, he looked as though he was expected to kiss me good night, and really didn't want to.// After taking a brief look around to see if anyone was coming, Legala slipped away, a persona, into Legolas.
He sighed. //If only Haldir could be told...//
In truth, Legolas needed time to think about other things than Haldir. After all, one couldn't lie mind-to-mind, and if he wasn't incredibly quick at learning to shield himself from mage probes and learning his lessons, his teachers were going to have to enter his head and help him. But, of course, when they went within his mind...
//They are bound to find out unless I either am an undiscovered prodigy, or if I bribe them. Oh, Valar. Well, at least I know what's going to happen sooner or later.//
Legolas frowned. His dress today was a prim, solemn floral on white linen, with tufts of lace at the sleeves. It was a bit stoic, but Legolas really didn't want to wear a fancy dress unless he had to. The grass on the hard earth beneath him let off a distinct scent as he shifted position.
//Now. Let us try to think rationally about this,// he sternly said to himself and Legala- they were really, in effect, like two seperate people. //If there is no way to avoid having someone enter your mind, what do you do?//
Legolas plucked a daisy and absentmindedly began to weave it into his shimmering blonde hair. He had left it down, with only a few scattered braids, because it had recently been washed and needed to dry. It fell in long, rippling waves in front of his ears and down his back and about his elbows.
//You find someone you can trust with your mind.//
Legolas frowned, but then footsteps broke his train of thought. He looked up as Larien walked by, a reed basket on her back. Larien noticed him too, and with a small wave, she hurried over. Smiling, she sat down beside him.
"Hello, Legolas. Forgive me- I haven't had time to drug my memory away." Legolas smiled back.
"That's all right. Actually, I had a question."
"Ask away." Larien shrugged, her brown hair swept up in an intricate series of loops and twig-thin braids, a few strands falling out. She uncorked a water flask, and took a swig.
"Are you a mage, trained in magic?"
Larien coughed, spluttering, and looked at him in suprise. "Of course. Didn't you know? All healers have to go through magical training, or their powers could lose control. When that happens, a healer with no control over his magic..." Larien shuddered delicately.
"Their magic is attuned to the bodies, minds, and hearts of the people around them. That's what all healers are tuned to. If a healer with no control grew very angry, they wouldn't just burst a blood vessel. They'd burst the blood vessels of the people around them, too." Legolas nodded, thinking it over. He smiled.
"Where are you going?"
Larien jerked a thumb towards the basket on her back. "Treating you took all the needles we had. I'm not an Adept Healer, so I got the job of making more. I need to get Blind Maid thorns, and jewelweed stalks (1)." She looked expectantly towards Legolas. "Do you want to help?" Legolas nodded shyly, and the two got up, dusting their skirts.
//Well. It'll take my mind off of Haldir.// He smiled slyly to himself as he switched into his "Legala-mode".
//And I'm suddenly quite glad that Larien hasn't erased her memory yet. She's a mage... she could train me!//
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Haldir sat back in his Council seat, the wooden bench making his back ache. He had been summoned to the meeting at the first light of dawn and it was around noontime now. Legala was lucky- she had arrived halfway. Someone had brought in a breakfast, but they were all getting a tad bit touchy, now that it was past lunch.
"So," said a Mirkwood delegate, facing Haldir and Rumil. Orophin was out sick- he had gotten a small cold, and Haldir really didn't want him to spread it around the entire council.
"So you are asking us, essentially, for our army?"
Haldir cleared his throat and stood up. "Yes, that is correct, sir. However, owing to the magical nature of our attackers, it would be most welcome if you could send troops battle-hardened against magical attacks. Perhaps even a few mages, in order to instruct our own soldiers?"
"That would indeed help both of our forces, to have a regiment of mages backing the soldiers or even fighting at the front. However, Mirkwood cannot simply send all of its mages over to Lorien! We need to have a backup defense for our own city, and furthermore, we don't know yet if we have mages to spare!" The delegate was red in the face, almost shouting his words across the floor.
Princess Legala coughed politely on her dais, before the arguments rose- again. All eyes immediately turned to her. "Then I suggest that this meeting be called into recess, until the archivists can add up the total census of mages in Eryn Lasgalen, and determine exactly how many we CAN spare." She glared at anyone who looked as though he was about to protest, and then turned to the Archiver.
"Could you please start your search for the census records now? I know it will take a while to sort through that pile." She smiled warmly at the Elf, and he nodded complacently. Then she turned to the Council once more, wincing as her white-gloved hands were pressured. Legala had gotten a lot of pinprick marks on her fingertips from collecting the thorns with Larien, but what she had gotten in return was more than worth it.
Larien had agreed instantly that it would be impossible to have the normal mage teachers enter Legolas' mind. To his relief and delight, she had volunteered to instruct him, or act as an interpreter from the teachers into Legolas' mind. Needless to say, Legolas knew that he had to keep the Council arguing as long as he could. He himself had to be trained first, before the subject of an army came up.
Legala cleared her throat, and smiled at the Council. "I believe it is time for luncheon."
The room cleared as faster that she had ever seen. She hurriedly gestured a page over. "Could you see to it that a meal is sent over to the Archivists? I don't think they've eaten yet." The page nodded, and scampered off.
Thranduil smiled thinly at Legala. She hesitantly smiled back. He nodded. "You are improving. Good work." Then he leaned forward.
"Have you found a teacher for yourself yet?"
Legala nodded, stunned. "Yes. She is the healer-mage who cured me, and she has offered to help instruct me, though I will have to learn swordfighting from someone else."
Thranduil nodded. Then he handed Legala a pile of scrolls that she could barely fit under one arm. He smiled again.
"These are tactical maps of Lorien. Use them well, please." Legala sighed. 'Use them well'. That meant, I expect you to know them by heart before the subject of an army is even considered.
Thranduil rose to his feet, and strode out the door. Legala followed meekly, trying hard not to drop anything that was old and fragile.
******************************************************************
Haldir stretched as he entered the lower Hall, his stomach suddenly roaring for food as the mouthwatering scents passed his way. He sat down in an empty seat near the corner, hoping to hear gossip- any gossip. After all, it was no point to try to listen to the young Elves who were still in love with tales of heroes, and viewed war as honor. But these minds were the minds which would decide his own future. And so he listened.
"Did you think that the third delegate was missing because he didn't feel the need to come? Those disrespectful- oh, he was sick? Thank heavans he didn't attend, he would have given us all some nasty disease."
"I think, myself, that the King ought to have been a little more stern with them. You can't just let those young ones run around with the nobility! Why, that debacle with the Princess-"
"Oh, do be quiet. Can't you see that the Princess is in love with the Marchwarden? Everyone knows that, stupid!"
"I think it's romantic, the two of them finding soulmates in the middle of such an awful crises! And of course, the Princess deserves someone who will love her."
"Young, romantic fool. Who knows what that warden is up to? It's quite obviously a trick of some sort."
"You're an old, sour fool! The Princess can tell if he's the wrong sort, she always can. We all know how she turned your offer down!" There was a circle of friendly chuckles around the table.
"She was too young back when *I* asked. She just laughed at me."
"Probably young enough to be your granddaughter!"
Haldir quietly ate his meal.
//They've made passes at Legala? Why, that's simply ridiculous. They must be at least twice her age.// Haldir paused, shaking his head. //What am I saying? Age means nothing to us. I'm acting ... odd. Like a human.//
//I guess she really is popular. I didn't realize how much her people were devoted to her. Council members, asking quietly for her hand in marriage... I wonder how other people behave?//
He sighed as he gave his tray to the elf on lunch duty with the cook. //Nothing like I do, I'm sure.//
He found himself wandering up the stairs, towards Legala's room. It wasn't strictly approved, but he had been in her room before, so he hoped he could talk to her.
He knocked lightly on the door, and it swung open gently. Legala was sitting over a heap of documents, muttering feverishly. Haldir cleared his throat. "Legala? Can I come in?"
"Mm."
"Is that a yes or a no?"
Legala just gestured to a corner abstractly, not looking up from her work. She nodded her head vaguely, while turning to a new sheet of parchment. Haldir curiously walked over behind her, and peered over her shoulder.
It was baisically a pile of maps of the layout between Lorien and Dimrill. Suprised, he noticed markings of all the usual caves, hills, and landmarks that he saw on his patrol. Legala frowned, and then began to sift through the pile once more.
"What are you looking for?" Haldir asked quietly. Legala sighed.
"I'm trying to find two natural features for the army to camp behind, so we can flank the enemy as he is drawn out. Preferably a line of stone."
Haldir raised his eyebrows. "There aren't any."
Legala turned around and glared at him furiously. "Dolt."
"What!"
"You're living right next to a gigantic mountain range. There is not a single solitary possibility that there are no rocks. This is why Lorien is so far away from Dimrill, to get away from the numerous outcroppings of unfarmable, uninhabitable, treeless ROCKS. If there were no rocks, Lorien would be IN Dimrill Dale, to trade easily with a gigantic port. However, Elves happen to need TREES. There is no FOREST where there are great, heaping piles of ROCKS!"
Haldir quietly sat down, subdued. Legala glared at him for a few long minutes, and then she sniffed, turning back to her work. It was only then that Haldir noticed the small, neatly written sign above the desk.
'Never argue with me when I'm working.
Because I'm right.'
Haldir coughed softly, and decided that this was one of those times to keep his mouth firmly shut.
Legolas himself was frustrated. //I have to finish this. Now. I still haven't met with the Elf who tried to kill me!//
*****tbc*****
A/n: Ha! Now that I have written the last chapter of Labyrinth, I am free to write Intrigue!!! Woot!