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Chapter 18- Lothlórien: Elven Kings and Competition Rings

She was not sure just how long she had been roaming around the city of Caras Galadhon, looking for the place they would hold this competition, but she was sidetracked by a rather ornate fountain in which she had to stop and look at. Though, while she was looking around for the best route to take to continue her journey, her eyes fell upon a tall ellon of physically strong stature, clothed in muted tones of green and brown, and wearing a simple circlet upon his golden head. He smiled pleasantly, and called out to her, "My lady, you appear to be lost."

"Was it that simple to tell, my lord?" she called back with a slight blush. He was a strange Elf, but he seemed to be powerful with the way he carried himself and commanded respect, not to mention that he was fair of face beyond even an Elven measure, despite his obvious wisdom, and years of pain and loss evident in his brown eyes.

"I must confess," he replied. "I have seen you pass over my head on a bridge a few times."

Silaerín found herself blushing more deeply as the Elf made his way to her. He was even more imposing when he stood before her, but he still seemed to have the lanky Elven build. He smiled and bowed his head slightly, "I am Thranduil, King of Eryn Galen."

"Please forgive me, my lord, I did not know it was you," she found herself saying quickly and curtsying deeply to the broad-shouldered king. His customary attire, and the reason he wore a circlet upon his head made perfect sense now that she thought about it. She had heard many stories of his father Oropher, and some of Thranduil, especially in particulars to the difficulty that Elrond, Celeborn and Galadriel had in making any type of agreements to come to each others' aides if need be. Elladan had informed her quite thoroughly on those matters over the years. But all she had ever heard was how impossibly overbearing he was, and how his son, Legolas, was quickly becoming him, even though he still had a few redeeming qualities.

The Elf lord chuckled as she rose, "And what is your name, my lady? You are obviously well dressed for the simple Silvan folk here in Lórien."

"I am Silaerín, granddaughter to Círdan of the Havens," she replied.

He took her hand and kissed the back of it politely, "At last I meet the beauty which has attracted so much attention since her arrival to Lothlórien this day."

"Thank you, my lord, but I doubt very much that I have attracted much attention," she said. "While I do not mind, I am overshadowed by the presence of my grandfather, and even the beauty of Lady Arwen."

"You are the Lady of Mithlond, and that receives much attention," the Elven king spoke. "But your beauty only adds to their chatter, when they speak of the mysterious lady."

Silaerín giggled, "Thank you for your flattery, my lord. In all that I have heard, I never imagined you, or any Elf king for that matter, to be like this."

He smiled, "It depends upon who you ask about me. And I believe you have spent time under the teachings of Elrond, Celeborn and Galadriel. That would hold some sway in how you visualize me."

"I suppose that is true," she replied.

Thranduil held out his arm for her, "May I escort you to the competition ring? I believe that is probably what you are looking for."

"Aye, my lord, and please," she said and took his arm. They walked in silence for a few moments, and she could hear the sounds of the excited talking of Elves grow louder as they made their way toward the ring.

After awhile he glanced down at her, "I must also confess, that I do not wish to scare away any high-born, Telerin elleth that could be a suitable mate for my son. And I believe my son will be quite impressed when he is introduced to you."

Silaerín felt herself blush again, and almost spoke to him of Elladan so that he may not continue on this path and maybe taking her actions the wrong way, but she did not wish to anger the King after only just meeting him. And truthfully, she was excited to meet Thranduil's son, despite her love for Elladan, just to see if the stories she had heard from Elladan were true. "I would be most pleased to meet your son as well, my lord."

He gave her a pleased smile and they continued toward the competition. It appeared to her, as they stepped into the field of spectators, that the small contest of skills between friends had swelled into an all-out competition for the willing Elves in Lórien, and they were still in the process of organizing the games and how they would be scored. Most of the city folk had turned out and found seats or were standing in the wooden stands to the left of the field, and all the way across the field was a special set of benches and cushioned seats for the High Elves who were in the city. Sitting there were Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel, Lord Elrond and Lady Celebrían, Arwen, Erestor, her grandfather, Galdor and a strange elleth she imagined to be Thranduil's wife by the crown and colors she wore. Standing closely to the sitting High Elves were the large group of ellon who looked to be preparing for the contest, with Glorfindel directing them.

"I thought that this was to be a small contest of skills," Silaerín said.

Thranduil chuckled, "It often starts that way, just like wars start with small skirmishes."

She nodded her head and followed along out into the clearing and along the stands of Elves to get to their place across the field. Thranduil had not been mistaken when he told her that she was a mysterious entity to these Elves, and that she was the topic of much conversation, especially now that she was walking along on the arm of the Greenwood king. And the ellon who had at first been deep into outlining the games to be had, now glanced up to see what had caused the new energy to arise in the crowd. She caught the twins' eyes and smiled at them, seeing a gold-haired ellon beside them that looked remarkably alike Thranduil, so she thought him to be Legolas, who smiled at her appreciatively. And a sight she had never imagined she would see in her life, was her brother talking civilly to Elladan and Elrohir.

When they reached the stands where the lords and ladies sat, Elrond met them, and without saying a word, Thranduil left her side with a shake of his head to go find his own seat, beside his wife. It was almost as though Elrond had given him a displeased glance, and sent him on his way, like he knew Thranduil's intentions were for her to meet Legolas. But Silaerín did not mind, for she loved and trusted the peredhel whom she had come to know as her father.

He smiled down at her, "Welcome to Lothlórien, my lady. I suppose your arrival was much nicer than your arrival to Imladris."

Silaerín laughed, "I have not decided which arrival is better, my lord. In Imladris I was surprised, but this is different."

"At least you did not have two ellon jumping out of wardrobes," he said.

"Nay, I did not, but if they were to accomplish that feat again, I would be tremendously impressed," she replied.

Elrond chuckled and tucked her arm in his to guide her up the few stairs to the platform. There was Celebrían to meet them, and then Erestor welcomed her with his trademark characteristic of being an ellon of few words. She was quickly introduced to the Queen of Eryn Galen, a sweet, but seemingly tough, elleth who went by the name of Authiel. And finally she made her way to Arwen, whom she embraced quickly and sat beside to talk.

"You are a sight for sore eyes, Silaerín," Arwen replied. "Not only am I glad you will take my brother's mind away from complaining about not having you, but also am I glad to have you to speak to on other issues."

Silaerín chuckled, "Well, I am quite happy to be of service in both ways."

"I am also glad I will not be the only elleth here that is left to the whims of the winners of this contest," Arwen said with a devious smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Whoever wins at each of the contests will be able to choose their prize, and since this is impromptu, it had been decided that we shall be the objects for which the lucky ellon get to choose their mode of receiving the prize… within reason of course," Arwen explained.

Silaerín glanced out at the group of ellon, and let out a long sigh, "Elladan had better win if he is so easily allowing me as compensation for a win."

Arwen laughed, "He will, trust me, Silaerín. He would let no other ellon have you."

And so the competition ensued, all of the competitors worthy warriors, each with their own areas of expertise. The victor of the simple archery contest of moving the target further and further away was the March Warden Haldir, though Celin was a close second. The winner of the archery contest involving rapid succession of shots with a bow at different targets around the competition ring was Legolas, while the competition of swords had come down to the twins who looked as though they were no where close to besting one or the other. She had seen this happen many times before, and she had no idea how this was going to end until Elrohir gracefully swooped down after his hard blow to his brother, and knelt on a knee with a sword, signaling that he wished to call a stalemate. Elladan stopped and sheathed his sword, bowing to his brother and offering his hand to pull him up from the ground.

Chatter started to travel throughout the Elves in the stands, obviously not used to two Elves stalemating in a competition, but she soon was unable to pay attention to that as the bedraggled company of warriors made their way to the platform of High Elves with Glorfindel to accept their winnings. Silaerín glanced at Arwen for a moment, and she giggled, "Hope that Legolas does not choose you, mellon. He has a habit of being much too free with himself, and he will surely display them with you, even if he knows of you and Elladan."

"Lovely," Silaerín replied, standing with the Elves on the platform. "How were we chosen for this again?"

"You and I are the highest standing, unwed ellyth here," Arwen said. "Have you never heard of the thing the Men call courtly love?"

Silaerín glanced at her, "If it is a Mannish tradition, then why do Elves practice it?"

"That is a good question," Arwen laughed at her, but turned her eyes to the line of Elven, and half-Elven, warriors. Silaerín met the blue eyes of Thranduil's son, who gazed upon her as though she were prey waiting to be captured and eaten, and she chuckled to herself. Elladan had not been jesting in his letters when he wrote of Legolas' antics. She moved down the line, meeting the March Warden's grey eyes. He was a noble Elf, even though he may not have been born into that lifestyle, she could sense that much from his wise eyes. And then her eyes fell upon the twins. Elrohir was sporting a thin scratch upon the right side of his neck, and Elladan a cut lip.

She smiled at him, but her attention was quickly moved to Celeborn speaking to the champions, "Well done to all who participated in this unplanned event, but as with all competitions, only the victors will be given a special prize for their wins. You have all heard the terms of agreement, so I now ask Legolas, Prince of Greenwood, to choose his prize."

Legolas smiled, "I ask for a meal with the Lady of Mithlond."

Silaerín knew he would choose something to that affect, and Celeborn glanced at her, and asked, "Do you agree, my lady?"

"Aye," she replied.

Next came Haldir, who responded to Celeborn's words of announcing, and smiled, "I request a dance from Lady Arwen at the festivities on the evening of the morrow."

Arwen agreed to that, a little too readily, and Silaerín gave her a sideways glance. Arwen blushed deeply and glanced at the ground. It was certain to Silaerín then that this could potentially be the reason Elladan and Elrohir were in trouble with their sister. And then the prize choosing came down to the twins, who conferred with each other briefly before announcing what they wished for. Elrohir spoke, "My lord, and grandfather, I would ask for nothing more than forgiveness from my sister."

Arwen rolled her eyes at that, but found herself laughing at Elrohir. Then the attention was on Elladan to make his choice. He glanced between her and Arwen, and then looked at his grandfather, "A dance with Lady Silaerín at the festival tomorrow."

Celeborn chuckled knowingly and shook his head before glancing at her, "Is that acceptable, my lady?"

"Aye," she said, but wanted to jest and say that it was not. However, she knew that what Elladan had truly wished to ask for would come out soon enough, and she would not mind it when it did. And with that, the Elves from the stands began to congregate on the field, to congratulate and speak with the winners and other participants. Before she could decide what to do, she was approached by Legolas. She stepped down off of the platform, and then he took her hand. When they were facing each other, he smiled, bowed and kissed her hand.

"My lady, it is a pleasure to meet you," he said, a larger smile now on his features.

"And you as well, my lord," she replied. "So which meal shall we be sharing?"

"Perhaps the noon meal tomorrow?" he asked.

Silaerín nodded her head in acceptance as Legolas' father and mother approached them. Thranduil smiled, though she could not decide if it was because he was proud of his son for winning the competition, or if he was proud that his son and she were speaking to each other. "My lady, I promise you that my son will not treat you badly."

She laughed, "I would hope not, but I can see already he would never be distasteful or rude in any way. You only must look at his father."

Thranduil nodded his head, eating up her courtesies for some reason. She had not imagined a wise Elf king to be so easy accepting of comments like these, but he was. The king smiled, "She was a good choice for your prize, ionnen."

Elladan stood in the group of Elves, trying to pay attention to the questions presented him, but he could not take his eyes from Silaerín who was now being polite to the Greenwood king and taking the assuredly smooth, yet exceptionally empty, comments from Legolas in stride. He smiled to himself. She was skilled at making even the most disagreeable Elf happy, and would be very useful in councils with Thranduil if she could maintain a clear mind and unclouded from his flatteries. It seemed to him all she had to do was smile, and ellon where falling into line behind her. But he could not blame those ellon. Her smile was a very powerful thing because it was an honest one.

And one thing was certain, he had spent too much time away from Silaerín. Now that she was here, he was eager to make up for that lost time, but then again, he did not want be responsible for hurting her with the multiple exertions he had in mind for them.

"Perhaps you should stop drooling like a warg staring at its meal, and take her away from the charmers that are Thranduil and Legolas," said a voice from beside him.

He glanced up to find his father and Glorfindel standing beside him, but also gazing at Silaerín from afar. "She is fine. I trust she will see past their words."

Glorfindel laughed, and let out a long sigh, nudging Elladan with his elbow, "So when I said a beautiful elleth was coming to stay in Imladris, I was correct, was I not?"

Elladan recalled him saying that so long ago, and the incident of being caught in the wardrobe because he and Elrohir wanted to spy on this so-called beautiful maiden. "Aye, you did. And you were right, though Elrohir and I were disappointed upon initial inspection."

"It is like wine," said Glorfindel. "They only grow better with age, and experience, if you understand me."

"And I let you teach my children!" Elrond threw his hands up in mock disgust, but smiled. "It is no wonder they are like they are."

Elladan chuckled and looked at his father, "At least we are not curmudgeons like Erestor."

"True," his father replied and chuckled. They stood quietly for a little longer, watching Silaerín converse with the Greenwood delegation a little longer, before moving on to speak with her brother shortly.

"Ada?" Elladan asked quietly, watching as Silaerín turned her eyes to them and smiled much wider than before.

"Aye, Elladan?" Elrond questioned in a like manner, though it was in a sarcastic way.

He turned and glanced at his father, "May I speak to you privately?"

"Share the evening meal with your mother and me," Elrond said. "We will discuss it there."

Elladan nodded his head and sighed, wishing that his intentions and the conversation he wanted to have with his father were somehow slightly unknown to the rest of the world, but he supposed it was nice to know that his father was already prepared for this talk. Then Silaerín appeared to his side, and took away any of his previous thoughts as she stood before Glorfindel and the Balrog slayer, instead of accepting her bow, took her into his arms and embraced her quickly, placing a kiss to her cheek.

"Welcome Silaerín," Glorfindel smiled.

"Thank you, my lord," she replied. "I am very glad to be here."

"And may I say that you have been very missed around Imladris?" he asked.

Silaerín chuckled, "You may, and I have missed being in Imladris as well… more than you could possibly know."

Glorfindel smiled and nodded his head, and opened his mouth to say something else, but Elladan noticed his father give Glorfindel a warning glance. It was hard to discern what it meant, but Elladan was sure it had to do with the fact that his father had seen the pinched look on his face that he was not allowed to greet Silaerín and speak with her now that the competition was over. His father motioned with his head to the side, and Glorfindel understood this movement, saying, "I fear I am being given the signal to leave you two alone."

Silaerín smiled, "And I shall thank you for your prudence."

Glorfindel laughed put a friendly hand on Elrond's shoulder, "Come, mellon nín. I have some things I must speak with you on myself."

The two Elf lords walked away then, and left him alone with Silaerín… well as much as they could be alone out in the field with all of the Elves congregating… but he placed his a hand on her lower back and shifted her so that she stood before him and could look into her eyes. It was not until this point that he realized just how much he had missed her these long years, and he could not see himself much without her for any long expanses of time, though he knew that they would inevitably come. He just hoped it was not nine hundred years that separated them.

Silaerín smiled warmly and stood on her toes to reach his lips, but she did not kiss him. Instead, she touched his cut lip with her fingers, whispering a short phrase that he had had heard his father say many times before while tending to his minor wounds. He felt an intense heat around the cut, and then the slight sting that was his obvious reminder of the cut went away. She stepped back for a moment, looking over her work, and nodded her head in appreciation for her work before quickly standing on her toes again and brushing her lips to his.

His arms wrapped about her torso then, quite involuntarily he noted, to hold her tightly to him. He looked down at her, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"When I was in Imladris, you father showed me a few healing techniques in which I could employ in daily use," Silaerín replied. "I am only surprised I remembered it."

"You remembered it perfectly," he said.

"Good," she said and giggled. "Because I do not wish you lips to be hindered in any way from working."

"Ah, but you know not what you are asking for by restoring me to full strength," he laughed.

Silaerín rolled her eyes, smiling brightly, "Oh, my lord, I have a very good idea."

Elladan leaned over her then placed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply and thoroughly, forgetting that they were in the midst of a large throng of other, very curious Elves. And as he pulled away from her, he realized that perhaps kissing her like this was not the best idea where prying eyes could start rumors in the gossip circles about them. After all, nearly everyone around them had quieted and were watching them intently. He glanced down at her, "I should not have kissed you here for all eyes to see. They probably think me a winner who has taken too much for his prize."

She giggled, "I am not ashamed, Elladan, even if that is what they think. If you are, however, just say that it is Númenorean blood that you so like to blame your urges on."

He chuckled lowly, "It is much more than Númenorean blood now. I have realized it is only truly my urges as a male."

Silaerín smiled and nodded her head, "True, but there is something to be said for the fiery Edain blood in your veins."

"Oh really?" he asked, raising a curious eyebrow. "You will have to explain this to me later this evening."

"I plan on it," she replied.

"And I shall look forward to it," he smiled wickedly. They stayed like this for a little while longer, looking at each other until he sighed, "I am to have the evening meal with my parents this evening and then I have something else to do, but I will come for you late in the evening so that we may watch the sun rise on the new yén together."

She pouted just slightly, but quickly masked her disappointment, "Then I shall wait anxiously until then, meleth."

Elladan smiled to himself, a whole menagerie of things going through his head of what he would like to do to her, but he suppressed them, knowing that waiting until the wee hours of the morning would prove to both of them that because they would have been so anxious for so long, that all of their senses would be heightened incredibly, and it would be to both of their benefits.

ionnen- my son

mellon- friend

meleth- love