A/N: Hey everybody! Happy St. Patrick's day! This is the time where we all raise our glasses of rum (or highly sugared soda with a lot of caffeine for my friends and I) and drink it all down! -raises her liter bottle of Coke and downs it- That'll last for an hour or so Anyways, on with the fic!
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Chapter Seventeen: A bath and an unusual request
"And you could not find him?" Lord Elrond asked from his desk. Aragorn, Legolas, and Elladan stood in front of him, still dressed in their nightwear. The sun was just rising in the east, and peeking through the mountains to shine on the valley below.
Aragorn shook his head. "We followed his trail as fast as we could, but he had a horse hidden in the woods. He had mounted up and began fleeing when we found him."
"Send out scouts to catch him," Elrond commanded. "Because of his actions, he must face a trial."
"Yes Father," Elladan said. "I shall start gathering them immediately." He turned and left the room, his footsteps fading down the hallway.
"And what of Meryl?" asked the Elven Lord of Rivendell. "How is she faring?"
"She has been taken back to her room, and is sleeping. Dae is with her," Legolas replied. "I stayed with her until the realms of sleep overtook her."
"Good, good." Elrond nodded. "Give her one more day in bed. Rest is what she needs now."
"My Lord," said Aragorn, "is there anything we can do to help?"
"Just keep Meryl in bed at the moment." Elrond smiled. "I have heard tales of her escapes from her room. Is it true that she convinced Legolas to allow her to sit on his shoulders?"
"Sadly, yes," Legolas said as Aragorn held back a smile. The Elf saw this and he glared at the King of Gondor.
Elrond chuckled and said, "Well, she has quite a spirit." He turned to Aragorn. "I regret that you have to leave so soon, but I know that the duties of your land comes before family."
"Indeed it does," Aragorn replied with a sigh. "Arwen and I will be leaving on the morrow. We will bid our farewells then."
"So be it," Elrond said. "You two are dismissed." As Aragorn and Legolas turned to leave, he remembered something. "Oh! The events of last night never happened. Do not tell anyone. I will inform Meryl's handmaiden, but nobody else. They do not need to know about Laeras and his actions. Agreed?"
"Does Elladan know?" inquired Legolas. "About this?"
"Yes, yes, I have already told him. Now go, I need to do some research."
"On what?" Legolas asked.
"Nothing that concerns you, Thranduilion."
Legolas glanced at Aragorn, who shrugged. They bowed and left the room.
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Meryl glared at her ceiling. She was back in her bed, probably for a few more days of time. {Thanks to that bastard,} she thought with extreme outrage. {I'm never going to get out of here. I'll be in here until I get too old to even crawl out of bed.}
The twins had gone back into the woods, to see if they could find any evidence of where Laeras might have fled, but to no avail. They did, however, discover Meryl's cane. They cleaned it up and returned it to her. When they had informed Elrond of Laeras's disappearance and that he could not be found, he declared that the Elf was officially banned from Rivendell, on the penalty of death if he ever crossed their borders again.
She let her hand dangle over the edge of the bed. She felt Dae's tongue begin licking it. She heard a dull thumping, and smiled, melting away her anger. The dog was underneath her bed, his head facing out.
"Good boy," she murmured. "I'm lucky to have you here with me, at least."
The thumping intensified, in both speed and volume. It seemed like Dae was agreeing to what she had said. Who knew what he could have been thinking about? Maybe he was wondering what he was going to eat today, or maybe he was hoping that Meryl would take him out to go and play fetch. Or maybe he was dying to go on an endless walk.
The smile on Meryl's face grew as she tried to place herself in the mind of her dog. She was interrupted, however, by a knock on the door. Liselle came in, carrying an armful of laundry.
"I have gotten the seamstresses to make you some more tunics and breeches for you to wear, seeing as how you refuse to wear a dress," the handmaiden announced as she was putting the clothes away in Meryl's wardrobe. "Also, when you finally are able to get out of that bed of yours, I will be able to change your sheets and clean them up a bit."
That sentence set off an alarm inside Meryl's head. She had never thought of that. If Liselle changed her pillowcases, she would find the knife, and her harmonica. That would lead to many troubles in the future. She would have to find a new hiding place for her things.
She was brought out of her thoughts by Liselle's voice, "Meryl? Are you listening?"
"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" Meryl asked. "I was just thinking."
"I was saying," Liselle said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "that you had better stay in bed today, or something unpleasant may be in the future. I may not have foresight like Lord Elrond does, but I can predict that."
Meryl grimaced as her imagination conjured up many images such as working kitchen duty or even a few more days in bed. "Alright Liselle. I'll try to stay here." Try being the key word.
"See to it that you do. Now, if you need me, I will be down in the kitchens preparing your lunch tray."
"Holy crap, it's lunch already?"
"Yes it is. Meryl, you have been sleeping all morning." Liselle exited the room and closed the door behind. She then produced a key from the folds of her skirt, and locked it.
"Just in case," she whispered to herself before turning and continuing down the hallway. "We do not need Meryl to be running around Rivendell only half healed. And with that Laeras out on the loose, it is best for her to stay in her room."
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Legolas took aim at the target with his bow. He relaxed and released the arrow. It cut through the air to rest in the center of the target. He gave no sign of his pleased mood, but merely turned around to face Aragorn.
"Your turn."
Aragorn grimaced and looked at the target. It was placed about seventy yards away from the two. It was past the noon meal and since Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn had nothing to do, the King of Gondor had suggested a friendly archery match. Pippin had left after eating the kitchens out of half of the food, for he was returning to the Shire for a quick visit before returning to duty.
Gimli declined the offer to join the competition, but said that he would observe instead. He now resided on a log, watching. The target had originally been placed at fifty yards away, but moved five yards further away if both hit the target.
The man stepped up to the mark that they had cut into the ground and took his aim. Carefully he focused on the center of the target and aimed the bow. He released the arrow and watched as it sped true to the target. With a thump it struck the center, splitting Legolas's arrow in two.
He lowered his bow and grinned at the Elf. Legolas's eyebrows had risen slightly, but his face remained cool and collected. "Admit it Legolas. You did not expect me to make it that time."
"I thought nothing of the sort, Aragorn," the Elf replied. He waited as the target was moved another five yards before standing before the mark. He pulled two arrows out of his quiver and fitted them to his bow. "Let us see if you can defeat me now."
He took aim and released his arrows. They sped true to the target, when something happened. The target leaped to the side, as Legolas's arrows flew past to embed themselves into a tree. The Elf's eyes grew wide with disbelief. How did that occur?
"What?" came Gimli's cry from the fallen log where he was sitting. "What in blazes just happened? Who did that?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Aragorn. As he turned to find out who the culprit was, he saw a flash of black in the bushes next to the target. A knowing smile crossed his face and he laughed.
"What? Why are you laughing lad?!" thundered Gimli.
"Elladan, Elrohir!" Legolas called. "You two had better come out before I kill you two with my next arrow!"
"I do not believe that the twins are the culprits," Aragorn said. "In fact, I do not believe that the guilty party is an Elf at all."
Legolas's ears caught a quiet laugh over by the target. He shook his head and sighed. "By the Valar," he whispered in exasperation when he realized who it was.
They watched as Dae ran out of the bushes, followed by Meryl. She walked without hunching over in pain, and with no use of a cane. In fact, she seemed pretty pleased with herself. Legolas noticed that her hair seemed somewhat wet, for was darker than its normal shade.
"Hey guys!" she called. "Look! I can walk!"
She placed her right hand on the ground, and threw her legs over her body, landing gracefully on the ground. To us, we would know it as a one handed cartwheel, but in Middle-Earth, they had no clue what she had just done. She then ran up to the three bewildered former Fellowship members with a huge smile on her face.
"I thought that Liselle locked you into your room," Aragorn said. He gave her a disapproving look. "How did you get out?"
"Was it her who did that?" Meryl asked. "I never would have thought she had the guts to." She shrugged. "Oh well, no matter. I picked the lock to get out, to answer your question."
Before there was any more talking, she held up a hand. "Here, I'll tell you the story. That way, I can answer your questions."
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After Liselle had left the room, Meryl sat up in bed. With a lot less pain, she got out of the bed and stood on the floor. Her legs didn't shake as much anymore, and when she walked, it was only a dull ache.
A big smile spread across her face. She could move! She had to go and tell the others. She made her way to her door and tried to open it, but it didn't move. It was locked. After several tries, including kicking it, which left a bruise on her bare toes, she gave up. She sat down in a chair and rested her chin on her hand.
"What do I do now?" she asked out loud.
After a few minutes of thinking, she scratched her head. Her face twisted into one of disgust when she felt her hair. It was stringy and greasy, and just plain gross! There were rat's nests all over her head, and the stray ends were all knotted together. She instantly decided that she was going to take a bath, and a long one at that. Afterwards would be an intense brushing session.
As she made her way to her washroom, she realized that no water had been heated up. Besides, there wasn't any water there in the first place. She would have to wait for Liselle to come back before taking a bath.
"That's just great," she mumbled angrily. "I'm hungry, I'm dirty, and I'm so bloody bored!"
She went back to her bed and sat on top of it. Remembering her small notepad and pens, she took them out from under her pillow. She thought on what to draw, and then remembered a comic that she had seen once upon a time back home. It was of Legolas and Aragorn performing a sort of tug of war on Aragorn's sword. "Legolas, let go! I need my sword to fight the Orcs!" Aragorn was saying while the Elf replied, "No! Must... Oogle... Reflection!"
Meryl laughed and began sketching the comic out. It didn't look as good as the original comic, but it was good enough for her. She hid the drawing away and thought of what she should draw next. A sword, maybe? Or what about sketching some of the designs she had seen in Rivendell?
She glanced at Dae, still under the bed, whose ears had pricked up. It was then she heard footsteps stop in front of her door. As fast as she could, she stuffed her pens and paper under her pillow as the door opened. Liselle came in with a tray laden with food in her arms.
"Here is your noonday meal, Meryl," she said. "I did not know what you would have preferred, so I tried to give you a variety of foods."
Meryl's eyes lit up at the sight of all of that food. "Thanks, I'm starved!"
Liselle's eyebrows raised. "You do not appear to be starving, Meryl. In order to be known as starving, one would have not eaten for days."
"It's a figure of speech, Liselle. It means that I'm really hungry."
"Well, next time say that you are really hungry, instead of using an unfamiliar phrase." The Elfess set the tray on Meryl's bedside table and sat in a chair across the room.
Meryl attacked the food with a vengeance, by first selecting an apple. In a matter of minutes, all that was left was the core. Liselle watched on in amazement as the teenage girl ate almost all of the food on the tray.
"Oh, Liselle?" Meryl asked between mouthfuls of honeyed porridge. "Do you think that you could bring in some warm water for a bath? I really need to clean up."
"Certainly. I will do that immediately." The handmaiden stood up and left the room, again locking it without Meryl knowing.
Meryl finished her platter of food quickly. She could have claimed that she had the appetite of a hobbit. But then again, she had never seen a hobbit eat, so how could she know that she could eat as much as they did? In fact, she could only say that she had met a hobbit, and not eaten with one.
Her head ached from all of this thinking and supposing. "Too much thought," she said. "My brain, it burns." She put a head up to her temple and rubbed it to stop the dull pain.
Dae whined and came out from underneath the bed. He jumped up and examined his mistress with his tongue. Meryl smiled and rolled her eyes. "Dae, no. Stop," she laughed. "I'm fine. You don't have to worry."
The black Labrador did as he was told and stopped his inspection. He settled himself at his mistress's feet and closed his eyes. In a few moments he was asleep.
There was a knock on the door. It opened revealing Liselle with a large basin of warm water being carefully cradled in one hand as she stuck something in her dress with the other. She carried it in and dumped the contents of the basin into the deep dip in the middle of the floor of the room that served as the bathtub. "There is another basin of water warming up. I will return shortly."
"Okey dokey artichokey!" Meryl replied with a huge smile. She was so happy. She was finally going to have a bath!
Liselle cast the teenage girl a strange look before leaving the room. Again, she locked the door. Meryl waited, and soon grew bored. In order to keep herself amused, she began twiddling her thumbs. She stared at her hands, willing for the twiddling to become interesting. The handmaiden returned with another bucket of warm water. She poured it into the tub and turned to Meryl. "Will you need me to assist you with washing?"
"Um, no," Meryl said. "I don't think so. I can move pretty well, but I think that I may need help with my cast. You see, it is very important that it doesn't get wet."
"And why is that?"
"Well, you see. I guess that in my past, I broke my arm. To keep my arm immobile while it heals, the--" She paused to think. "--healer put this cast on my arm. It was made out of warm strips covered in a paste that would turn hard when it dries. The only thing is, if it gets wet, it'll go soft again."
Liselle nodded, and looked like she still didn't understand. "Alright, is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Not that I can think of..." Meryl pondered for a moment. She shook her head before her eyes widened. "Oh wait! Do you think that you could help me brush my hair when I'm finished taking a bath?"
"Of course."
Meryl grinned. "Yay! Now I'll be clean again!" She would have gotten up and danced around, but Dae was lying on her legs. She compromised by clapping her hands excitedly. "Is the water ready?"
"Just one more basin, Meryl."
"Schweet," she said.
Liselle raised her eyebrows. "I believe that I do not want to know, correct?"
"Yeah."
Liselle left the room and returned with the final bucket of water. She poured it into the tub and beckoned Meryl to come into the washroom. Meryl pushed Dae off of her feet and got out of bed. She undressed, with only a little help from Liselle, and slid into the tub. She stayed in the bathtub for a long time, and she was sorry when she had to come out. She dressed in fresh clothes (gray breeches with a white long sleeved blouse, and a light blue tunic) and sat in a chair. Liselle found a hairbrush and began teasing out the rat's nests with a vengeance.
When Meryl's hair was thoroughly brushed, Liselle gathered her things and prepared to leave the room. Meryl waved her off, and turned to find some sort of jewelry that would match her clothes. While she was occupied in the search, Liselle left, again locking the door. After searching her room thoroughly, she found a simple pair of silver studs to put in her earlobes and a silver leaf hanging on a delicate chain.
She went to the door and tried it. Locked again. This left her no choice. Shaking her head, she found her purse and began digging through it until she found a bobby pin. Inserting it into the lock, she began to gently poke it around. Many years of locking herself out of her bedroom had taught her this trick, or if Andrew decided to lock her out of the house.
With a satisfying click, she tried the door again. To her pleasure, it opened. Calling Dae, she pocketed the bobby pin and went out of the door and down the hall in search of the others.
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Meryl finished telling her tale, leaving out the part where she had found the bobby pin to pick the lock. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli stared. She smiled and said, "I thought that was how you guys would react."
"Well, that was an interesting story Meryl," Aragorn said, "but that does not explain why you are out of your room."
"Besides showing you that I'm healed, I have a request. I want you to teach me swordsmanship. Starting tomorrow."
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A/N: Ta-da! Thus ends the "filler" chapter. -throws confetti into the air- See you guys when I get back... Stay tuned for Laeras's revenge. Mwahahahahahahahaha... ^^ I can be so evil to my characters sometimes.
By the Lion's Mane,
Leo