AN: Hi all! Alas, alas school looms in the distance for me. Not that I don't like school, I actually do! It's just that I'm really nervous about the coming semester. I'm going to be a senior in September. That means looking for Graduate schools and stuff. Anyway, I hope everyone who has started school, is doing alright and not letting it get you down so much. About the only advice I can give you, is to find a mini-goal and stick to it. I usually do days until movies or DVDs come out or holidays. That way my semester winds up broken up into little mini-sections. Makes the time seem like it's going by faster and stuff. Anywho, as always, thanks for your reviews (good and bad). I appreciate them immensely and please keep them coming!
Alioth: Well, I'm sorry you find fault with my story. I write for fun and to pass the time between classes at school. This is what comes of that time. I, too, am sure this is going to wind up being a relatively long story since I only know how to write long stories and essays (much to the chagrin of some of my professors).
IrethAncalime3791: I remember you! Thanks for sticking along and thanks for your compliment. I greatly appreciate it. I had a teacher in high school who use to do the "Can I, May I" all the time, much to the annoyance of the class. I am quite glad you like the story and I hope you keep hanging around. Even for the story that comes after this one!
LadyJadePerendhil: Well, if I was taking votes, yours would be appreciated! Elrond doesn't want to influence her decision either way. Well, that's his initial intention. As for Aragorn's court, they're just not sure what to make of a half-grown (in human years anyway), half-elven princess-who-doesn't-want-to-be-a-princess who they feel will make their king look bad.
sunni07: Ah, it's alright! Being busy can drive a person insane! I hope everything going well for you, from your dancing to your gymnastics. I'm glad you liked the chapter, though! Here's the next one!
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.
Niphredil let that thought hang in the air for a few moments.
She knew her Father's council wasn't overly fond of her being in Middle Earth. There was something about her being a "transgression" on the part of her father the king and that her being in Middle Earth would shine a negative light on her father's rule. Make him look weak in the eyes of those who might try to take the throne from him and give them a way to take over.
She wasn't sure about the full extent of that, not knowing all that much about her home world and its running lead to that ignorance on her part, but she could understand where they were coming from. After all, a strong leader had a better chance of keeping his city safe than a weak one. History books in the Muggle World had told her that much many times over.
She figured time would shine more light on that situation. Time she'd like to take if given the chance, though she wasn't quite sure how one was educated in this place.
The question led to another break in the conversation, another long silent pause between the pair. Save for the usually noises associated with a busy city, the air was still.
"How are you and your parents getting along?" Elrond asked, breaking the silence as a hammer breaks glass.
He had asked a similar question of Arwen and received her answer. Despite the fact he trusted her answer; he wanted to hear what Niphredil had to say on the situation. Her answer could be far different, in either sense if the word. She could contradict her mother- Something he assumed she was not going to do. - or she could give him more information about the relationship she was slowly developing with both her parents. The latter of the two was more his wish.
Niphredil thought for a moment, biting her lower lip as she did/ A bad habit, a very human behavior, she knew. Something she had to work on stopping no matter what fate she decided she wanted.
Pushing that decision away from her mind, though she knew she was going to have to deal with it in due time, she, slowly, answered, "It's strange really because I have these memories from when I initially lived here. I remember my mother and some things about her. Now, though, it's like I'm starting from scratch again since she's different and I'm different."
She shrugged trying to find more words but not really having any luck. What memories she had of her first go around in Middle Earth were trying to force their way to the surface of her mind, trying to break the soap bubble shaped but diamond hard walls of the dome she had tried so long to keep them under.
True, some had slipped past her defenses and appeared as dreams but the majority were safely under wraps in her mind. Those wraps were loosening, though, allowing more and more of her memories to come to the fore. Whether that was a good or a bad thing, she couldn't say. It was, however, disconcerting to say the least.
"That is good to hear," Elrond said, trying to reassure the half-elven maiden, "I am sure your mother would be most displeased if she heard you had lost all of your memories from your short time here. What of your father?"
That question brought a small smile to Niphredil's face. She liked talking about her father for she had always tried to guess what he was like. After all, she could recall a female parent but never a male one. Having one now, was something she was very intrigued by.
"Though I do not recall him from when I was younger, he and I are getting along. Better than I ever expected, really. I do believe he's trying his hardest to be a good father, despite the fact he's not quite sure what he's going. I guess, the best I can do is try to be a good daughter, even if I'm not sure how," she answered, though she sounded none to confident with her answer.
"Why are you not sure how? Did you not have parents in the Muggle World?" Elrond questioned, sounding a bit taken aback.
He had assumed that being someone's daughter came as naturally to the child as some instincts did to the parents.
Niphredil hesitated for a fraction of a second. Any proper answer to that question would have required her going into detail about the life she led in the other world. That was a life she wasn't all too keen on bringing up in her new situation, among members of her new family. Those memories had already caused her enough mental damage.
"My situation in the other world is something I'd rather not talk about," she, truthfully, answered, "Suffice to say, it wasn't exactly the happiest of times there. I wound up with a family who weren't exactly all that pleased with me."
In return for his truthful answers- the ones he had given her- Niphredil felt she was obligated to be truthful as well. Some secrets were being kept on both sides and she saw this as a very fair and equal trade.
Elrond nodded, showing he accepted even her partial answer.
"And your family here? Do you find them of a higher quality? Are their efforts better than the ones once made?" he asked, giving her more questions and more food for thought.
"Their efforts are better, much better in many ways. They have been nothing be nice and accepting towards me and that I appreciate very much. For a while, I was afraid that I was going to find myself in a situation where I was highly unwanted, "she replied after a time.
"They understand that children are gifts, daughters and sons alike," Elrond replied, a strange sort of look on his face.
It was like a smile but not. There was something knowing behind it, something more he wasn't saying or acting on. That garnered Niphredil's curiosity but she shunted it aside.
"Unlike Emma's father," she quipped, instead.
Much to her surprise, Elrond gave a short laugh. That was not the reaction she had been expecting from the stern looking elf lord.
"Have you been talking to Emma, Legolas, or your father about Thranduil?" he wanted to know.
"Emma, mostly," Niphredil admitted around a laugh.
That was one conversation she wasn't likely to forget anytime soon.
FLASHBACK
Niphredil and Emma made their way through one of the lower levels of the city, being tailed at a distance by two guards who felt they were being stealthy. They'd been easily picked out though, as they walked along.
She was doing as she was told though, ignoring the pair and walking as if they were not there. Emma had said that was the best course of action, lest they start a fight between the pair.
They were sisters, the young elf had told her, elven ones who called themselves Ice and Fire. She had said that if they were to openly notice them, Fire would have something to say about it. As her name indicated, she had a very fiery temperament. Her sister, the older of the pair, was cooler, calmer, more collected, occasionally the living embodiment of her moniker of Ice.
"Just keep walking," Emma said, in a hushed tone, "They'll follow behind and decide to show themselves eventually. Pretend you don't see them."
Niphredil nodded and the pair walked. Through the city they went with their ever present guards behind them. It was a large city, oddly arranged in concentric rings though which gates allowed access from one level to the next.
"Is you home like this?" Niphredil asked Emma, curiously.
"Nope, nothing like this. I don't think there's a place in Middle Earth that rivals this city in set-up and function," she answered with a smile.
"But your home is also run by a king, right?" she questioned, "He's your father if my memory serves me correctly."
Emma made a sour looking face at the mention of her father. That was one topic, akin to Niphredil's reluctance to talk about her past, was somewhat sensitive to Emma.
"My biological father is the Lord of Mirkwood. My father's just a grumpy guy who isn't all that happy about being here," Emma corrected in a smallish voice.
There was a difference, in her mind, about the father who had contributed to her being born and the father who had raised her. Other than the obvious, anyway. Thranduil was the Lord of Mirkwood and the elf who just happened to be a genetic contributor to her being alive. The word "father" was attached to Mitchell, the man who had helped raise her.
"Sorry about that. I forgot about the whole name thing with you. Your biological father is the king there," Niphredil amended.
A thought crossed her mind and began begging to be expounded upon. There was something she was quite eager to know.
"Why do you call him that? Your biological father, I mean," she questioned.
Emma looked a bit unhappy to hear that question. She wanted to tell the truth, though. As an overture of friendship to the other from-the Muggle-World-elf.
"He's not all that nice to me. He sent me here with my brother just to get me out of his halls. I guess, he considers me some kind of mistake that he really has no need to either admit to or to deal with. That and, I guess, he's a bit sour about the fact my parents- the ones who raised me- are staying here and that Legolas allowed me the title of princess. I think he just wanted me to, sort of, sink into the background of his kingdom and not to ever bother him. In the position I was given, however, it's highly unlikely that would happen," Emma answered with a slight shrug.
As they continued walking, Niphredil found a way to continue getting Emma to talk about her father and the kingdom she hailed from. The more she found out, though, the less she liked the elf Emma could have called father.
She sincerely hoped her own was nothing like that.
END FLASHBACK
"I assumed you had been speaking to young Princess Emma. Let us not discuss the Lord of Mirkwood for I would rather not get angry. His treatment of that child is appalling to say the least," Elrond answered.
Something Elrond had said earlier in their discourse caught Niphredil's attention. It had gone overlooked in her shock about the decision she was being asked to make.
Now, though, she could question on it.
"You mentioned something about having sons. Does that mean I have uncles? What are they like? Are they here?" she asked in rapid fire succession.
Elrond seemed slightly amused with her questioning and how they were delivered to him. Her eagerness to learn about her family was both a blessing and a curse in that it could give her a link to her past- One she didn't know she had. – but could be quite overwhelming considering the length and breadth of that past.
"You have two uncles, Niphredil, for my sons are twins and they are of the strangest nature. When the need suits them, they are dedicated and serious. They are loyal to what cause they are championing and are as fierce as any enemy they have faced. When they feel the need suits them, though, they are very much like children and seem to enjoy causing small amount of trouble. I have brought them with me though I fear your father will not be pleased with that," Elrond answered.
That description seemed to click properly with something she had learned from her mother. It was her brothers that had taught her how to properly sneak into a kitchen and raid its contents. She had also said the same brothers would have been very disappointed if said skills were not passed on to her child.
"Will I get to meet them?" Niphredil brought up.
"I assume you will eventually. Under what circumstance, though, I can not say," the Elven lord answered, "Last I heard, they found themselves riding with the sisters, Ice and Fire."
An odd look crossed Niphredil's face. Had she not see twin figures talking to Ice and Fire? With what she had learned, those twin figures were most likely her uncles.
"That would explain why they looked so much like my mother," she mused, happy that she had been able to put a few small pieces of the larger puzzle together.
Of course, the rest of the pieces lay scattered about the table for her to put in at a later time and place. She'd just have to make do with what she knew now.
"Is there anything else you'd like to know about me, sir? I think I've asked you quite enough questions about everything," she asked, trying her best to sound as polite as possible.
She'd asked a great many questions and felt that she might have dissuaded Elrond from asking her anything.
"There is one thing," he started.