AN: Sorry for the second delayed update in as many weeks. I had my last midterm (Microbiology) today and I'm done my creative writing project until the end of the semester. I had to write another original piece for the class to read and "workshop." It's not something I'm really comfortable with because my class isn't exactly the science fiction (which is what I wrote for the class) group. ANYWHO! I hope you're all having a great time with school and everything else. I seriously appreciate all of you taking the time out to read and review my little dog and pony show. This story's going to be wrapping up soon and I hope all of you stick around for my sequel-spin-off-type-thing that comes after it! Just keep reading and reviewing! You lot are the best!
Lilliena: Well, I'm glad you like this story! I do hope having you on pins and needles is a good thing. You're going to find out what Arwen's reaction to Niphredil's little adventures in sparring is soon. As for the councilmen, they're going to get their two cents in as well. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!
Ms. Unknown: Thanks! I figured I really couldn't have one beat up the other. Didn't really seem fair or something to that effect. Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chapter and here's the next one.
Lindele: I'm happy you liked the chapter and here's the next one!
Elven Script: Here's the next chapter. As for my name, it's a combination of four things I really like. "Genetically" comes from the fact I'm a biology major who'd like to get into genetic engineering someday and the fact I like the X-Men. "Elven" comes from the fact I like Lord of the Rings and write about the elves. "Gryffindor" is because I like to read Harry Potter.
IrethAncalime3791: It's a wicked cool saying...one of my favorites from The Matrix Reloaded. I'm happy you liked the chapter, it was fun to write. Thanks for the cheering up about updating late but, here I am, doing it again. Hopefully I won't be making a habit out of it.
Lindiel Eryn: Sorry it was so short. I got pressed for time at the end- my mom doesn't like me waking her up super late to tell her I'm going to bed. I'm glad you liked the chapter, despite the fact it was so short. Thank you for the compliments.
Shay: Hi there! Always glad to get reviews! They're really unexpected. Thank you very much for the complements. I'm glad my little horse and pony shows have managed to keep your attention. I'm glad you liked how Elrond and Arwen came out. They were really hard to like and I was really nervous that I was going to wind up not doing them justice. Thank you and I hope to hear from you again!
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 wanted to consider herself lucky. She and her father had managed to sneak back into the citadel and get back to their respective rooms. She'd managed to bathe and get changed before anyone noticed.
She figured people finding out that her and her father had been sparring- or that she had been fighting in general since it wasn't very "princess-like"- wasn't the very best idea.
Everything seemed to be going well, though. Even the informal dinner she'd had with her parents was quiet and uneventful. Niphredil wasn't sure why that set her on edge but it did. She kept expecting something to happen to her or her parents. Someone to show up or say something to them.
It wasn't happening, though, and that didn't sit quite right with Niphredil.
At the moment, though, she was sitting in her room. Not the room she'd initially been given either. Much to her surprise, though she figured she shouldn't have been surprised, she'd been given a room in the ruling family's quarters. It was a bigger room and, she guessed, more fitting to the fact she was the city's princess.
She had just sat down- to do some reading since she'd found a book written in a language she understood- when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," she called, very much expecting it to be her father standing on the other side of the door.
She'd grown use to, and loved, her father's nighttime visits. Niphredil was exceedingly eager to talk with him about some of the moves he had used against her today. They were maneuvers she didn't recognize and, as such, had no counter for them. Her curiosity had been piqued and now she wanted to satisfy it.
She pulled the door open, after getting up from her bed, and nearly fell over with the shock of what was on its other side.
Both her parents stood there with very grave expressions on their faces. In her short memory of both of them, she could not recall them looking so strained or stressed.
"What's wrong?" she blurted, stepping back into her room and allowing her parents to enter.
She settled on her bed, sitting against the headboard. Her parents joined her on the large but rarely used structure.
Suddenly, Niphredil found herself wishing she hadn't been thinking about something happening. What she wouldn't give to have that quiet night she was having- the one that made her nervous- back again.
"We received word from Patrick," Aragorn started, in a strangled sort of tone, "that something called a newspaper in your former home mentioned you and your disappearance in it several times."
"They say your family there misses you and wishes you to come home," Arwen added in much the same tone, "they say you love them and they love you. That you were important to their home and their family and will give anything to have you back."
An odd expression passed over Niphredil's face as she listened to their words. She really and truly couldn't believe her ears. What she was hearing, to her anyway, was total and utter fiction.
"That's a bunch of made up lies. Those people didn't even like me around let along think I'm important to their family. They just don't want to be embarrassed by the fact I 'ran away' or whatever they say happened to me. It's about as made up as the stories about these kinds of places are in the other world," Niphredil ranted, making a sweeping gesture at the end of her statement to indicate the world around her.
"Why are they lies, Niphredil?" Aragorn, gently, questioned, "These people seem genuinely concerned about your health and well being."
"They're not, trust me. If they missed me or anything like that, I'll....I'll...I'll eat this bed. I was about as wanted there was like a plague is wanted in this city," the young half-elven maiden spat.
Her ire had been raised by the flat out lies she had been told. A strong urge to yell and scream, or hit something had taken up in Niphredil's chest. After being stuck in a lie for a good part of her life, she didn't like the fact the Jones' felt the need to perpetuate the lie. She had hoped beyond hope that they were just going to fade into the background of her life and not bother her here in her new home.
Seemed to her that wasn't the case. Though they were not there physically, they'd found a way to interject themselves in her new life. Much to her chagrin.
"Why is this bothering you, my child? Please, can you tell us," Arwen asked, plainly hurt by the fact Niphredil was hurting.
She wasn't sure, though, if it would be alright to go over and comfort the obviously hurting child. The pain was more emotional than physical in nature and there was nothing a healer could do to help her daughter. Emotional support- she and Aragorn just being there for Niphredil- could be offered.
At the moment, though, Niphredil looked a bit too angry to deal with any kind of support. She had feelings, powerful ones that needed to be vented first.
Niphredil ran a hand through her hair and took a shaky breath. She had wanted so badly to avoid this situation, not to have to do this, but it seemed she was going to have to. Maybe she wanted to avoid having to deal with these painfully raw emotions that stung like an open wound with salt in it.
It was unavoidable now, though. She was going to have to deal with them whether she liked them or not.
"I really didn't want to talk about this stuff because it hurt me to do it. It's not the best part of my life really. Well, there were some good parts but they were few and far between," Niphredil started, "This all started a little bit after I was adopted by these people who were called Jay and Kay Jones..."
Trying to keep herself in check, Niphredil tried to relate to her biological parents just what she'd gone through with the Jones family in the other world. When words failed her, she tried not to cry or express herself with random inarticulate sounds. They needed to know and she needed to try to tell them. It was just a matter of getting the words out.
The story took a great deal of time and her parents, she found, were a rapt audience. She was glad in a way that they didn't interrupt her telling. They allowed her to speak until she had nothing left to say.
"That's why I was so eager to come here," she finished with a broken voice and tears in her eyes, "I just wanted to meet you guys and, maybe, find out that I had a real family that cared about me. Just please don't feel sorry for me. That's the one thing I don't want."
"Have you found that?" Arwen inquired, deciding was the time was right to come over and put an arm around her daughter.
Niphredil leaned against her mother, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. Telling that story had taken a lot out of her but her left her with some valuable insight as well. In sight that could be used for a certain decision that had been gnawing at her brain for quite sometime.
"That and more," she answered, quietly, "Seriously, I'd rather be here with you two then there with them. There's nothing I want from them anymore. This is my home and where I belong. I've decided that now."
Subconsciously, she knew she had decided something else but she wasn't ready just yet to admit that much or go that far. Better to enjoy the moment she was in now.