AN: Hi all! Welcome to yet another installment of my little story! I hope everyone's having a good summer. It seems like every time I update I have another movie to talk about. This time is going to be no different. I took my mom to see "I, Robot" the other day because she likes Will Smith. The movie was nothing like the book as expected but it was better than I thought it would be. It was actually a pretty good movie. Though it would have been better if they stayed truer to the book but that's just me. Anywho, enough of my movie ranting. All of you and your reviews rock my socks! I am eternally grateful for them and I know they're going to come in handy next semester when I take Creative Writing. It's your reviews that gave me the confidence to take that class.
et-spiritus-sancti: I'm glad you liked his reaction. I figured he should be excited since he wasn't all together sure about how Niphredil would react to him when she came back home. You are very right about the title of the story! It does translate into "The White Flower." The story it entitled that for two reasons. The first being that the"Niphredil," as described by Tolkien, is a white flower. The second being that Gondor had its famous white tree and Niphredil is part of the city with its white tree. I hope that cleared that up!
LadyJadePerendhil: Yup! That conversation is in the very near future. I hope you like it. As for good old Elrond, I figure he didn't leave for whatever reason. It is weird trying to figure out how the movie and the book timelines work together or separate from one another. I'm glad you liked Niphredil's musings on her father!
PixiePea000: Why? What is the reason? Have you been talking to the Merovingian again? Watch out for him! He's tricky! You'll see who she's meeting eventually and be nice to Sparky! Jay and Kay, along with Hope, will come up again. As for Hope's story, she and the merry mutants (not THOSE Merry Mutants...heaven forbid!) will get typed up soon. The Dynamic Duo are busy doing whatever those two do when not being rebels and tamping around in black. Anyway, GOLLUM and watch out for Agent Elrond Smith (the Dynamic Duo aren't looking for him at the moment.)
sunni07: I'm glad you're better and you go some sleep! What's a Highland fest? Is it fun? I'm glad you liked both chapters and Emma and Niphredil will eventually either become friends or not! Time will tell!
Elainor: I'm happy you liked the little look into both Aragorn and Niphredil's thoughts. I was hoping it would sound alright.
LalaithoftheBruinen: LOL! Here's the next chapter fresh from my computer!
KapOfDaPipers: I hope that silence is a good thing! I have the ending of this story mostly worked out because it kind of leads into the next story I have. Sort of another sequel/spin-off type deal.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a handful of made up characters. Tolkien thought up the concept and, as such, it belongs to him. I'm just playing in his world. I'm broke and in college. All I own are Pointe Shoes.
Sunlight filtered in through the window, casting small shadows on the walls and floor of Niphredil's room. It was the same sunlight that woke up the figure half-sleeping in her bed.
Niphredil rolled over, blearily rubbing her eyes as she did so. She recalled falling asleep, or whatever passed for falling asleep in her mind, and that she was supposed to be doing something of great importance this day. That had been the reason why her father had left so early the night before.
Full control of her senses and awareness of the world around her flooded into her quite quickly. With a mental laugh, Niphredil conjured up an image of Jane and James when they were "forced" to get up early for school....two angry, bleary eyed, tousled haired children with scowls on their faces a mile wide. It never failed to annoy them when Niphredil walked into the kitchen wide awake with a content look on her face. Of course, the look had been for their benefit. She knew it annoyed them in the strongest way. They couldn't understand just how she managed to be happy every single morning, even if they had a long day of school ahead of them.
There had been another accession where Niphredil had the opportunity to wake up and find others not pleased to see her happy. That was at her Girl Scout Troop's yearly "Camp-In."
"What an adventure that was," she mumbled, laughing.
FLASHBACK
It might have been about six in the morning. Maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later. Niphredil wasn't entirely sure. All that she was aware of was a certain stiffness in her back and an incredible need to yell at each and every member of the troop.
She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before but that was partly her own fault. She'd stayed up late talking science and other unrelated things with Hope. When she wanted to go to sleep, though, she found sleep wouldn't come. There had been too much talking and laughing and video game playing on the part of the other members of the troop.
Such was the nature of Girl Scout Troop 6417's "Camp-In."
Without any leaders licensed to take the Scouts camping in the woods, the troop had been relegated to camping indoors. The whole event was fun for all of five minutes and did not resemble camping in any way, shape, or form. Instead, it looked more like a giant sleepover replete with the giggling and make-overs.
Someplace a few inches away, squashed as they were in a smallish room, a small figure wormed around in her grayish sleeping bag. Where most girls had sleeping bags with cartoon characters or things of that nature on them, only she, Jane, and the small figure next to her had proper camping sleeping bags. Niphredil's was a dark green color; Jane's a ruby red, and the third member of the "elite" group's grayish in color with a darker gray "x" emblazoned on it's front.
A mousy brown hair covered head peeked out from the top of the sleeping bag, peering around with tired eyes.
"Morning yet?" she asked, in a bemused sort of voice.
"Yeah, thankfully. Soon we'll be home in our own rooms and out of this creative form of torture," Niphredil answered, sitting up in her sleeping bag.
"Good. I know I live in a school but it was never that noisy there and I've slept on the student's floor a fair few times," the other figure, Hope, answered sitting up in her own sleeping bag.
All around the pair, the other members of the troop awoke with audible groans. Some had just fallen asleep a scant few hours ago.
"That's because they know they'd get in trouble if they didn't go to sleep. Not like this lot," Niphredil commented, dryly.
"Well, that too but they still don't get to bed at curfew. They talk but never that loudly," Hope retorted.
Even the troop's leader, Miss Sandy, looked like she'd been dragged through the mud. There were visible bags underneath her eyes and a scowl on her face. She was, obviously, not a morning person.
Breakfast was brought in at seven in the morning, on the dot. The food being supplied by a local deli that was based near the school.
Like zombies, the troop made their way over to their breakfast. With a rather wicked looking smile on her face, Niphredil too walked over with Hope following behind. Not as much a morning person as her friend, the mutant Girl Scout was no zombie either. Living in a school had taught her to deal with mornings.
"Wonderful morning, isn't it?" Niphredil cheerfully commented as she pulled out both her breakfast and Hope's, "I love mornings, don't you?"
Except for a giggle from behind her, Niphredil earned herself a fair share of angry glares and half mumbled comments from the other members of her troop. Apparently the morning person was not welcome within their little circle.
With a shrug, Niphredil walked off content with her actions and truly glad it was morning.
END FLASHBACK
"Thank goodness I never have to do that again," she mumbled.
She swung her legs over the edge of her bed, still laughing at the memory of the unhappy Girl Scout Troop in her head, and spotted something hanging on the door leading into her room. A slight frown creased her face as she saw what this something was.
Hanging from the back of the door was a dress made from a deep forest green fabric. Its short sleeves were trimmed in a shimmery gold thread as was the collar and area just above where her hips would be. Other than that, the dress was bare from any design. Sitting at the vanity table was a band of gold she assumed was for her hair.
She wrinkled her nose, looking unhappily at her dress. True, it wasn't one of those huge puffy ball gowns the storybook princesses wore but it was still something she wouldn't have actively chosen to wear on her own.
Hanging from the gold decorated collar of the dress was a folded piece of parchment. She pulled the parchment piece off, assuming it was a note of some kind. Perhaps something to explain just why this dress was left hanging off her door.
She smoothed out the crease in the note- for a note it was- and read it to herself.
"My dear, please forgive us for leaving you something to wear but it is imperative that you make a good impression on a certain person today. Wear this dress and make your way down to the courtyard just beyond the throne room. It is the one where you often have lunch with your mother. There you will find a person who is most interested in talking with you. We will see you at lunch today---your mother and father."
Niphredil looked up and the dress then down to the note and back again. Something was most definitely going on and she was missing a certain piece of information to tie everything together. Namely the identity of the person who wanted so urgently to speak with her.
"The person who came in with that group yesterday," she decided, removing the dress from the door and heading off to get dressed.
The cloak and dagger secrecy her parents were employing was bothering her slightly. She didn't understand the need for secrecy in this case. What was going to take place that required her to remain so ignorant?
She shook the thought from her head. Her parents had to have their reasons for acting as they did. Perhaps they just wanted her adequately surprised when she met this person. They wanted her first, true reaction to whatever this person wanted to speak with her about.
"Maybe he's that lore master person nana was talking about yesterday," she mused, as she dressed, "he could be someone of importance."
That idea made some sense to her except for the secrecy thing. A storyteller, no matter how gifted, would not be cause for such actions.
Dress on and hair brushed pin straight- although it was always pin straight- with the golden band sitting in it, Niphredil left her room.
She knew the courtyard the note was referring to, having eaten there a number of times, but she'd never walked their on her own. Usually, she followed her mother's lead.
"I can do this. I just need to think a bit," Niphredil decided, wandering through one corridor leading away from her room.
Down one corridor, around a corner, through another long corridor, taking a side exit through a small room, Niphredil wandered trying to find her way to the appropriate courtyard. Though she could recall how to get there- The path was laid out in her mind - she seemed to be having problems getting that path to transfer down to her feet.
All around her the usual people to be found within the citadel worked, going about their daily routines. Out of place in the crowd, though, were two tall figures alike in both dress and appearance. They were standing, talking in melodic tones, with two figures Niphredil recognized as being wandering guards that appeared to be based out of the citadel.
Usually, the two white haired guards wore armor bearing an odd orange, black, and blue symbol. Now, though, they wore light gray clothing with quivers at their backs and bows in their hands.
The twin figures, dark of hair and eye and reminding Niphredil slightly of her mother, were speaking to one of the guards. The other, slightly smaller of the pair of white haired females, kept speaking out of turn.
Niphredil shook her head, deciding they were probably not the best people to ask where she was going. If her memory served her correctly, the younger of the white haired guards, Fire being her name, would tease her mercilessly for asking such a question. The elder of the pair, Ice, would give directions with a wiry shake of the head.
Getting turned around three or four more times after stepping away from Ice, Fire, and the twin figures, Niphredil arrived at her destination.
Three figures sat in the courtyard. Two were recognizable, despite their odd mode of dress, as Legolas and his sister Emma. The other, however, was a total unknown. From her distance, he looked to be either very young or very old and had the weight of many years on his shoulders. His hair was dark and his ears, slightly covered by his hair, were pointed like her own. He was dressed in regal colored robes, deep purples and reds, which gave him the air of royalty.
"I see our guest of honor has arrived," the man quipped, catching sight of Niphredil as she replaced.
"We shall take out leave, Lord Elrond," Legolas commented, bowing slightly.
"It was very nice to meet you, sir. My brother speaks very highly of you. My real father, however, does not," Emma added, stepping into a dancer's curtsey.
"I can assure you that your real father, as you call him, is lying on most accounts. It was very nice to meet you as well, princess. See that your brother treats you well," Elrond stated, lifting a hand.
Both figures stood up from their bowed positions and took their leave.
As they passed, Legolas leaned towards Niphredil and whispered, "May your fortunes be good."
Niphredil wasn't sure if that was meant in jest or in truth, making her all the more nervous.
"There's nothing for it. We have to do this," Niphredil decided, taking a few tentative steps towards the lone figure not standing in the courtyard.
She'd stood up to Jay and to the antagonists in her Girl Scout troop. She just had to draw on that strength now....and ignore the tense feelings of nervousness that was threatening to overtake her.
et-spiritus-sancti: I'm glad you liked his reaction. I figured he should be excited since he wasn't all together sure about how Niphredil would react to him when she came back home. You are very right about the title of the story! It does translate into "The White Flower." The story it entitled that for two reasons. The first being that the"Niphredil," as described by Tolkien, is a white flower. The second being that Gondor had its famous white tree and Niphredil is part of the city with its white tree. I hope that cleared that up!
LadyJadePerendhil: Yup! That conversation is in the very near future. I hope you like it. As for good old Elrond, I figure he didn't leave for whatever reason. It is weird trying to figure out how the movie and the book timelines work together or separate from one another. I'm glad you liked Niphredil's musings on her father!
PixiePea000: Why? What is the reason? Have you been talking to the Merovingian again? Watch out for him! He's tricky! You'll see who she's meeting eventually and be nice to Sparky! Jay and Kay, along with Hope, will come up again. As for Hope's story, she and the merry mutants (not THOSE Merry Mutants...heaven forbid!) will get typed up soon. The Dynamic Duo are busy doing whatever those two do when not being rebels and tamping around in black. Anyway, GOLLUM and watch out for Agent Elrond Smith (the Dynamic Duo aren't looking for him at the moment.)
sunni07: I'm glad you're better and you go some sleep! What's a Highland fest? Is it fun? I'm glad you liked both chapters and Emma and Niphredil will eventually either become friends or not! Time will tell!
Elainor: I'm happy you liked the little look into both Aragorn and Niphredil's thoughts. I was hoping it would sound alright.
LalaithoftheBruinen: LOL! Here's the next chapter fresh from my computer!
KapOfDaPipers: I hope that silence is a good thing! I have the ending of this story mostly worked out because it kind of leads into the next story I have. Sort of another sequel/spin-off type deal.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a handful of made up characters. Tolkien thought up the concept and, as such, it belongs to him. I'm just playing in his world. I'm broke and in college. All I own are Pointe Shoes.
Sunlight filtered in through the window, casting small shadows on the walls and floor of Niphredil's room. It was the same sunlight that woke up the figure half-sleeping in her bed.
Niphredil rolled over, blearily rubbing her eyes as she did so. She recalled falling asleep, or whatever passed for falling asleep in her mind, and that she was supposed to be doing something of great importance this day. That had been the reason why her father had left so early the night before.
Full control of her senses and awareness of the world around her flooded into her quite quickly. With a mental laugh, Niphredil conjured up an image of Jane and James when they were "forced" to get up early for school....two angry, bleary eyed, tousled haired children with scowls on their faces a mile wide. It never failed to annoy them when Niphredil walked into the kitchen wide awake with a content look on her face. Of course, the look had been for their benefit. She knew it annoyed them in the strongest way. They couldn't understand just how she managed to be happy every single morning, even if they had a long day of school ahead of them.
There had been another accession where Niphredil had the opportunity to wake up and find others not pleased to see her happy. That was at her Girl Scout Troop's yearly "Camp-In."
"What an adventure that was," she mumbled, laughing.
FLASHBACK
It might have been about six in the morning. Maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later. Niphredil wasn't entirely sure. All that she was aware of was a certain stiffness in her back and an incredible need to yell at each and every member of the troop.
She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before but that was partly her own fault. She'd stayed up late talking science and other unrelated things with Hope. When she wanted to go to sleep, though, she found sleep wouldn't come. There had been too much talking and laughing and video game playing on the part of the other members of the troop.
Such was the nature of Girl Scout Troop 6417's "Camp-In."
Without any leaders licensed to take the Scouts camping in the woods, the troop had been relegated to camping indoors. The whole event was fun for all of five minutes and did not resemble camping in any way, shape, or form. Instead, it looked more like a giant sleepover replete with the giggling and make-overs.
Someplace a few inches away, squashed as they were in a smallish room, a small figure wormed around in her grayish sleeping bag. Where most girls had sleeping bags with cartoon characters or things of that nature on them, only she, Jane, and the small figure next to her had proper camping sleeping bags. Niphredil's was a dark green color; Jane's a ruby red, and the third member of the "elite" group's grayish in color with a darker gray "x" emblazoned on it's front.
A mousy brown hair covered head peeked out from the top of the sleeping bag, peering around with tired eyes.
"Morning yet?" she asked, in a bemused sort of voice.
"Yeah, thankfully. Soon we'll be home in our own rooms and out of this creative form of torture," Niphredil answered, sitting up in her sleeping bag.
"Good. I know I live in a school but it was never that noisy there and I've slept on the student's floor a fair few times," the other figure, Hope, answered sitting up in her own sleeping bag.
All around the pair, the other members of the troop awoke with audible groans. Some had just fallen asleep a scant few hours ago.
"That's because they know they'd get in trouble if they didn't go to sleep. Not like this lot," Niphredil commented, dryly.
"Well, that too but they still don't get to bed at curfew. They talk but never that loudly," Hope retorted.
Even the troop's leader, Miss Sandy, looked like she'd been dragged through the mud. There were visible bags underneath her eyes and a scowl on her face. She was, obviously, not a morning person.
Breakfast was brought in at seven in the morning, on the dot. The food being supplied by a local deli that was based near the school.
Like zombies, the troop made their way over to their breakfast. With a rather wicked looking smile on her face, Niphredil too walked over with Hope following behind. Not as much a morning person as her friend, the mutant Girl Scout was no zombie either. Living in a school had taught her to deal with mornings.
"Wonderful morning, isn't it?" Niphredil cheerfully commented as she pulled out both her breakfast and Hope's, "I love mornings, don't you?"
Except for a giggle from behind her, Niphredil earned herself a fair share of angry glares and half mumbled comments from the other members of her troop. Apparently the morning person was not welcome within their little circle.
With a shrug, Niphredil walked off content with her actions and truly glad it was morning.
END FLASHBACK
"Thank goodness I never have to do that again," she mumbled.
She swung her legs over the edge of her bed, still laughing at the memory of the unhappy Girl Scout Troop in her head, and spotted something hanging on the door leading into her room. A slight frown creased her face as she saw what this something was.
Hanging from the back of the door was a dress made from a deep forest green fabric. Its short sleeves were trimmed in a shimmery gold thread as was the collar and area just above where her hips would be. Other than that, the dress was bare from any design. Sitting at the vanity table was a band of gold she assumed was for her hair.
She wrinkled her nose, looking unhappily at her dress. True, it wasn't one of those huge puffy ball gowns the storybook princesses wore but it was still something she wouldn't have actively chosen to wear on her own.
Hanging from the gold decorated collar of the dress was a folded piece of parchment. She pulled the parchment piece off, assuming it was a note of some kind. Perhaps something to explain just why this dress was left hanging off her door.
She smoothed out the crease in the note- for a note it was- and read it to herself.
"My dear, please forgive us for leaving you something to wear but it is imperative that you make a good impression on a certain person today. Wear this dress and make your way down to the courtyard just beyond the throne room. It is the one where you often have lunch with your mother. There you will find a person who is most interested in talking with you. We will see you at lunch today---your mother and father."
Niphredil looked up and the dress then down to the note and back again. Something was most definitely going on and she was missing a certain piece of information to tie everything together. Namely the identity of the person who wanted so urgently to speak with her.
"The person who came in with that group yesterday," she decided, removing the dress from the door and heading off to get dressed.
The cloak and dagger secrecy her parents were employing was bothering her slightly. She didn't understand the need for secrecy in this case. What was going to take place that required her to remain so ignorant?
She shook the thought from her head. Her parents had to have their reasons for acting as they did. Perhaps they just wanted her adequately surprised when she met this person. They wanted her first, true reaction to whatever this person wanted to speak with her about.
"Maybe he's that lore master person nana was talking about yesterday," she mused, as she dressed, "he could be someone of importance."
That idea made some sense to her except for the secrecy thing. A storyteller, no matter how gifted, would not be cause for such actions.
Dress on and hair brushed pin straight- although it was always pin straight- with the golden band sitting in it, Niphredil left her room.
She knew the courtyard the note was referring to, having eaten there a number of times, but she'd never walked their on her own. Usually, she followed her mother's lead.
"I can do this. I just need to think a bit," Niphredil decided, wandering through one corridor leading away from her room.
Down one corridor, around a corner, through another long corridor, taking a side exit through a small room, Niphredil wandered trying to find her way to the appropriate courtyard. Though she could recall how to get there- The path was laid out in her mind - she seemed to be having problems getting that path to transfer down to her feet.
All around her the usual people to be found within the citadel worked, going about their daily routines. Out of place in the crowd, though, were two tall figures alike in both dress and appearance. They were standing, talking in melodic tones, with two figures Niphredil recognized as being wandering guards that appeared to be based out of the citadel.
Usually, the two white haired guards wore armor bearing an odd orange, black, and blue symbol. Now, though, they wore light gray clothing with quivers at their backs and bows in their hands.
The twin figures, dark of hair and eye and reminding Niphredil slightly of her mother, were speaking to one of the guards. The other, slightly smaller of the pair of white haired females, kept speaking out of turn.
Niphredil shook her head, deciding they were probably not the best people to ask where she was going. If her memory served her correctly, the younger of the white haired guards, Fire being her name, would tease her mercilessly for asking such a question. The elder of the pair, Ice, would give directions with a wiry shake of the head.
Getting turned around three or four more times after stepping away from Ice, Fire, and the twin figures, Niphredil arrived at her destination.
Three figures sat in the courtyard. Two were recognizable, despite their odd mode of dress, as Legolas and his sister Emma. The other, however, was a total unknown. From her distance, he looked to be either very young or very old and had the weight of many years on his shoulders. His hair was dark and his ears, slightly covered by his hair, were pointed like her own. He was dressed in regal colored robes, deep purples and reds, which gave him the air of royalty.
"I see our guest of honor has arrived," the man quipped, catching sight of Niphredil as she replaced.
"We shall take out leave, Lord Elrond," Legolas commented, bowing slightly.
"It was very nice to meet you, sir. My brother speaks very highly of you. My real father, however, does not," Emma added, stepping into a dancer's curtsey.
"I can assure you that your real father, as you call him, is lying on most accounts. It was very nice to meet you as well, princess. See that your brother treats you well," Elrond stated, lifting a hand.
Both figures stood up from their bowed positions and took their leave.
As they passed, Legolas leaned towards Niphredil and whispered, "May your fortunes be good."
Niphredil wasn't sure if that was meant in jest or in truth, making her all the more nervous.
"There's nothing for it. We have to do this," Niphredil decided, taking a few tentative steps towards the lone figure not standing in the courtyard.
She'd stood up to Jay and to the antagonists in her Girl Scout troop. She just had to draw on that strength now....and ignore the tense feelings of nervousness that was threatening to overtake her.