They watched the elleths leave, before making their courtesies to their Lord and Lady. Haldir kept his report to them short and concise. He knew they were eager to visit with their family, and that a more detailed report would be expected from him in writing. His brothers had little to add, and waited patiently in the background for him to finish.
They left together, heading for the talan they shared when they were not on duty. Rúmil immediately left again, returning moments later with a small basket of bread and fruit.
"We shall have to visit the market tomorrow," his youngest brother said ruefully, setting their repast out on the table in quick, economic movements.
Orophin passed him, his arms full of clean clothing and a towel. "You may go to the market tomorrow, muindor," he said, smiling in a rather pleased fashion. "I have more important things to accomplish with my day."
Haldir lifted his gaze from the bottle of wine he was opening and fixed Orophin with a curious look. "Oh?" He pulled the cork from the wine and set it gently on the table to breathe. "What could possibly have garnered your attention so swiftly? We have only just returned."
"An elleth," Orophin replied, lifting a bar of soap to his nose and smelling it, before setting it aside and reaching for another. "A fair elleth, whose sweet charms I have not yet tasted."
Rúmil snickered quietly, earning him a sharp look from Orophin. "Few are left indeed you have not sampled," he said. "I am not surprised you set your sights on such as she, for she knows not your reputation!"
"You are speaking of Laurel?" Haldir asked, watching as Orophin selected yet another soap.
"Yes, of course. Whom else would I be speaking of?" Orophin asked, finally settling on a scented soap that he liked. "Merelind? That elleth has too sharp a tongue for my taste, and while Niním was a pleasant distraction, I found her conversation lacking."
"I did not know you spent enough time with Niním to converse, muindor," Haldir said dryly. He poured the wine into a glass and tasted it, nodding with approval at the flavor. "Regardless, I do not believe Laurel to be to your taste, muindor. She seems…rather reserved."
Orophin lifted an eyebrow, a smile quirking his lips. "Oh? She seemed friendly enough when I spoke with her on the journey here. She was quite impressed with my fletching."
Rúmil rolled his eyes. "Forget it, muindor. She would not suit you, I think. She needs an elf with a sensitive nature, someone who will woo her with soft words and tender caresses." He winked at Orophin.
"Oho! Someone like you perhaps, gentle muindor?" Orophin taunted, though his expression was playful.
"Aye," Rúmil said with a small grin. "Indeed. Your passionate nature would overwhelm someone like her."
Haldir snorted, shaking his head. "You both speak of her as if you know her, when in truth you have only known her for three days. That is little time in which to make such an impression of someone, especially an elleth."
Rúmil and Orophin shared a look, before turning their attention to their eldest brother.
"You could not woo her," Orophin said decisively, shaking his head. "You would bore her to weeping, waiting for you to make the first move."
"Aye, and you would frighten her into hiding," Haldir retorted, his lips twitching a little as he fought back a smile. "I think of the three of us, I would be the perfect choice."
"You both are quite wrong for her," Rúmil said, taking a bite of fruit and chewing thoughtfully. "If anyone will capture Laurel's affections, I think it would be me."
It was Haldir and Orophin's turn to share a look, before turning their attention to Rúmil.
"Would you perhaps care to make a wager on that, muindor?" Haldir asked, arching an eyebrow.
Rúmil looked from Haldir to Orophin, frowning slightly. "What precisely are we wagering on?" he asked.
Orophin smiled wickedly. "On which of us will successfully win Laurel's regard, muindor. Have you not been paying attention?"
"I have," Rúmil replied, a bit more defensively than he meant to. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "How far must it go?"
"A kiss," Haldir suggested, making Orophin laugh. "What?"
Orophin shook his head, still chuckling. "I will have won the wager before the day is done, if that is all that is needed."
"A willing kiss," Haldir amended, frowning at his amused brother. "Not a stolen one."
"No," Rúmil said. "A kiss proves nothing. An elleth may kiss an ellon in friendship or in rare passion, yet give no more than that."
Haldir's eyebrows lifted sharply. "Then by what measure to we use to determine the winner of this wager?"
"The bed," Orophin said. "Whoever she chooses to accept as a lover is the winner."
Rúmil's eyes widened. "I think that hardly fair, muindor," he said finally, shaking his head. "Too woo a maiden to bed as a means to win a wager. If you win, will you leave her after you collect on your winnings?"
Orophin frowned. "You are cold, Rúmil. I would not do such a thing if I found her fair enough. Perhaps I would even love her truly."
Haldir shook his head. "Nay, Rúmil has the right of it. It seems wrong to coldly seek an elleth's bed in such a fashion. It would be a falsehood from the start, and there would be no joy in it."
"Then what means are we to use to determine who is the victor?" Orophin asked.
"Love," Rúmil answered softly, a shy smile curving his lips. "Whichever of us wins the elleth's heart is the winner."
Haldir and Orophin looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted an extra head.
"You cannot be serious," Orophin said, snorting. "We barely know this elleth!"
"Aye," Rúmil replied, not deterred in the least by Orophin's derision. "And therefore I say we should seek to know her, to woo her with honest intent, and thereby discover if our hearts belong with hers or not."
Haldir frowned, studying his glass of wine for a moment. "That seems more fair," he finally said, looking up at his brothers.
"Fair?" Orophin retorted. "It is ridiculous. I will have no part of this wager, for I am not yet ready to settle into a relationship of such magnitude. I am too young yet."
Rúmil smiled. "I am younger than you, muindor, but I am not afraid to seek love if it should beckon."
Orophin's eyes narrowed at his brother's words. "Afraid?"
"Aye." It was Haldir who answered. "I think you lack the courage for this endeavor."
"What?" Orophin's outburst was immediate. "My courage is not lacking. Merely I do not wish to lose my heart."
Rúmil shared a conspiratorial look with Haldir. "Aye." He sighed, shaking his head mournfully. "It is a pity."
Orophin growled, knowing he was being baited, but unable to resist the lure. "Fine," he said shortly. "What do we wager?"
Laurel unpacked her clothing, listening to the idle chatter of Merelind and Niním as they settled into their guest quarters.
"What will you wear this evening?" Niním asked, holding up a dress and shaking the wrinkles from it.
"I have not thought of it," Merelind answered. "Perhaps I will not attend."
"Silly. You know you would not miss it," Niním answered with a light laugh.
"What are you talking about?" Laurel asked curiously, watching the two elleths move gracefully back and forth between their rooms.
Merelind favored her with a smile. "Whenever their family visits, the Lord and Lady hold a celebration, with food, wine and dancing. Everyone in the city will attend in honor of Arwen, Elladan and Elrohir."
A formal dinner party with dancing, surrounded by a bunch of elves she didn't know. It sounded like a form of social torture. While she was looking forward to meeting new elves and making friends, she did not especially wish to do it in such a setting. She had wanted to ease into the social life of Lothlórien, as she had in Imladris, not be thrust into it all at once.
Unfortunately, neither Niním nor Merelind would hear of her staying behind.
"Oh no, you must go," Merelind insisted, already rifling through Laurel's wardrobe for a suitable dress. "You are new, and therefore interesting. Everyone will want to see you." She pulled out a dress and held it up with a sly smile. "The ellons will not be able to look away when they see you in this. They will all want to partner you for the dances."
"But I cannot dance," Laurel protested, as Niním turned her around to face a floor length mirror.
"It matters little," Niním giggled, tossing her blonde hair over one shoulder as her fingers delicately picked at the ties that held Laurel's dress. "You will learn quick enough."
In a matter of moments, her traveling gown was gone, replaced by the very same bottle green gown she had worn when she first arrived in Arda. Merelind smiled at her reflection approvingly.
"You will break hearts, Laurel."
Niním eyed her hair critically, before herding Laurel into a chair and taking up a comb to straighten the tangled mess of reddish brown locks. "Perhaps you might catch the eye of the Captain himself," she said with a light laugh.
"Or one of his brothers," Merelind added, taking another seat to braid her own hair. "They may feel they have the advantage over the others, having traveled with you the past three days." She sighed, reaching up to place a golden clip in her dark hair, pinning it back artistically. "They are all three so very handsome."
"What about you two?" Laurel asked weakly, watching as Niním effortlessly plaited the center strands of her hair, wrapping it around the top of her head and pinning it into place. Her question made Niním blush and laugh merrily.
"Oh, I have no interest in either Orophin or Rúmil any longer. My heart yearns for something new and interesting," the elleth answered. "And Haldir is much too serious for my taste, though he is comely enough."
"She means to say that both Orophin and Rúmil have paid court to her, but not won her hand," Merelind told Laurel conspiratorially. "There is another here that she has had her heart set upon, but he has not yet noticed her."
"Hush, Merelind," Niním told her friend with a playful scowl. "Perhaps I have given up on him and have interest in another."
Merelind rolled her eyes but nodded dutifully. "As you say. Myself, I care not, so long as he is kind and dances well. I wish to dance until I cannot dance any longer!"
A bouquet of wildflowers in a simple, blue vase sat on a low table beside Laurel's bed. Niním picked several small, white blossoms from the bouquet and placed them carefully between the braided strands of hair that circled the crown of Laurel's head, ignoring her protest that it was too much.
"There," Niním said with an approving smile. "You look lovely, Laurel."
Laurel felt her cheeks warm under Niním's kind praise and looked at her reflection. A tall, willowy-limbed elleth with hair the color of cinnamon stared back with uncertain eyes. The green of the dress did flatter her pale complexion, as well as her dark brown eyes. The flowers did seem a bit over the top, though.
"Nonsense," Merelind told her with a wry smile. "Every single maiden will be wearing them this eve. 'Tis how the ellons know who is available!" Her own dark locks were decorated with bright, yellow flowers.
Niním carefully placed tiny blue colored blossoms in her pale silvery hair. "It is a game, you see. The males will try to steal a flower from your hair without being caught. If they succeed, then you owe them a favor." At Laurel's widened eyes, Niním hastened to explain. "It can be anything from a dance, to a stroll, or even a kiss."
"But if you catch them trying to steal a flower, then it is they who owe you a favor," Merelind said with a wink.
Laurel's knees felt rather weak so she sat on the edge of her bed, careful not to wrinkle her dress. "I do not recall reading about this or hearing about such a thing in Imladris," she said finally, feeling both overwhelmed and more than a bit apprehensive. What if she said the wrong thing? What if no one asked her to dance at all?
"Oh, that is because it is only a tradition in Lórien," Niním answered. "I do believe Lady Celebrían began it when she reached her majority, to entice the eye of a certain elf Lord who ended up being her husband!" She dropped her voice to a whisper, though there was none to overhear. "Though it is said that she need not have gone to such lengths at all, for Lord Elrond fell in love with her the moment he saw her."
Laurel sighed at the image Niním's whispered words conjured. To be so lucky, to see someone and know instantly that they were the one, and to be right about it! She'd never been a believer in love at first sight, but apparently it was not completely unheard of for elves. It was rare, but it happened.
She knew, from talking to Arwen and the other elleths, that it was not at all unheard of for elves to take lovers before binding themselves forever to their one true love. There was no stigma attached to sharing physical intimacy, so long as the elves in question were of age. Lord Celeborn himself had been Lady Galadriel's lover long before they became formally bound.
Was she ready for such a step?
Laurel reached up and touched the white blossoms in her hair with her fingertips and stared at her reflection. The presence of the flowers declared that she was ready, but her mind was uncertain if that was true or not. Did she dare leave them, or should she take them out?
"Do not look so apprehensive, meldis," Merelind told her kindly, catching Laurel's worried look in the mirror. "It is supposed to be a celebration, a time of merriment."
"Enjoy the night and the attention," Niním added gaily, rising from her chair to twirl in a flurry of dark blue silk. "Enjoy all that life has to hold."
Caught up in the elleths' enthusiasm, Laurel laughed softly. Perhaps she was ready, or perhaps she was not. She would never find out if she didn't try.
To be continued…