Unfading Grass

By Meggin Fallohide "Minyaré" (except for Sections #1 &2) & Ches "Eldarion"


Warning: Unless you absolutely love cheesy humor and corny drama, please do not read this and don't bother flaming, because we know we're being insufferable. Also, if you're constantly concerned about treating Tolkien's work with accuracy, please leave right now. Otherwise, enjoy!


Breakfast Through Min's eyes

I awoke to a gray sky, about to burst with rain, and my handmaiden's face looming over mine. I shrieked.

"Minyaré, Lady Arwen requires your presence." She pretended she hadn't heard the shriek.

I groaned. "It's 'Lady Minyar', Nurithil! Do I have to? It's barely 7 in the morning! It's not like we have lessons on a Saturday!"

Nurithil gave me a stern look. "No, Lady," she stressed the word "lady", "but 'tis of urgent nature."

I got up and shrugged. Well, if it's of "urgent nature", like she says...

I headed out the door.

"No, no, no, Lady, not until you've washed and dressed."

I gave a big sigh. "What? It's only my mother, for heaven's sake!"

I gave another groan and oh-so-patiently bore Nurithil's fussing. Nurithil always had to have me all prim and perfect before I went out of my room, even if it was only my mother I was meeting. Not that there was anything else she could do for my plain and unattractive features.

After she was done, I headed down the hall towards our kitchen. There, I saw my little twin sisters, Neverin and Neveriniel, tugging at my mother's skirts and screaming at the top of their lungs. My two older sisters, Erhothien and Imbequesse, we're sitting at the table. Erhothien was reading a book, and Imbequesse was cleaning her nails painstakingly, acting as if she couldn't hear my little sisters' barbaric screams. My father, Aragorn, and my brother, Eldarion, were still in bed. I rolled my eyes. This is the "urgent" business I was to attend to?

"Tell us a story mommy! It's raining outside, and there's nothing to do!!! Please please please!" Neverin yelled.

"I can hear you honey. You don't have to yell in mommy's ear," Arwen replied patiently. "Finish your breakfast first."

"Mommy, when is Prince Legolas coming? Can I learn how to shoot the pointy arrow thingey! Please please please!" Neveriniel pleaded. My mother got a strange and indiscernible look in her eyes at the mention of Legolas' name.

"Soon, honey, now finish your breakfast." She settled her in her chair.

In the midst of all this chaos, I cleared my throat. "Um, mother, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" The look in my mother's eyes vanished once she looked up at me. Had I only imagined it?

"Oh, thank goodness, Min, would you please take your sisters out of the kitchen while I help the servants with the dishes, please?" My mother always insisted on helping the servants.

I gave an exasperated look at my older sisters. Erhothien glanced up, smirked, and went back to her book, and Imbequesse gave no response. "Why didn't you just ask them to help?" I asked, gesturing to my sisters. In the next instant I regretted it, for I saw that my mother was drained and tired.

Mother just smiled. "We all know that you're the best one at handling little children, especially little devils such as these," she laughingly said, and winked. I just sighed and called the girls. "Come on Neverin, Neveriniel! Who wants to go for a piggy back ride?" They shrieked and almost run me over. I left the kitchen, but not before I saw my mother looking out the window, with the imperceptible look in her eyes once again.

Warhorse Through Min's eyes

We headed to the nursery, me on all fours, and the little minxes riding on my back, determined to make the already hard journey harder. They bounced up and down, pulled on the collar of my dress like it was the reins of a horse, and kicked my side, trying to make me gallop.

"Ow!" I shrieked. "You little--!"

I bumped my head on something. "Ow!" I yelled again. "What in the world..."

I dislodged the imps, sat up, and rubbed my head. I looked up and saw that it was my brother. I noticed that he had just finished taking a shower and was dressed very spiffily.

"Oh hey sis," he said, trying to control a chuckle. It came out nonetheless.

"Oh, you're the one to laugh. Where are you going?"

His smirk was replaced by a nervous smile. He looked down at his newly-shined shoes. "Um, nowhere."

I stood up and dusted my dress. Good thing I wore an apron. "Come on, Eldarion, I know you're going somewhere! Where are you going, it's raining, for crying out loud!"

He mumbled something.

"What?"

"I have a date." It was barely voiced.

I smiled. "Hey, good for you! So, who is it?"

He picked nonexistent lint on his shirt. "Um, you know."

"Know who?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"Um, Amandoliel."

"Amandoliel," I said slowly, trying to place a face with the familiar-sounding name. It came to me.

"Oh, Amandoliel! The girl who used to live right next to us who thought you were a geek, when we were 12? Ha! Remember when you asked her out, and she was like, 'What a total dork'?" I snorted.

Eldarion looked like he wished he hadn't told me anything. "Um, yeah. She lives farther away now, but I can reach it soon enough with a horse. Okay, see you, dude." He positively ran out the door. I laughed again.

I was smiling towards the door, envying my brother for what must have been five minutes, when I felt an impatient tugging on my skirts. I looked down. The twins had dangerous looking pouts on their faces, and Neverin stamped her foot.

"We didn't finish the piggy back ride yet!" she whined, and Neveriniel started crying.

I panicked. "Oh, Neveriniel, don't cry, here, I'll be a horse again, and you can be a shieldmaiden, like the White Lady of Rohan!" I knew that Neveriniel held Lady Éowyn in high esteem. She always got a dreamy look in her eyes whenever I told her tales about the Lady.

"Really?" Neveriniel smiled and wiped her cheeks.

"What about me? Who will I be?" Neverin continued whining. I sighed.

"Um, you can be Lord Faramir, come to save Lady Éowyn's life!"

Neverin stamped her foot again. "I don't wanna be Lord Faramir. I wanna be a shieldmaiden too!"

I frowned and puckered my forehead in thought. "Um, you can be a, um... a warrior hobbit! Like Merry Brandybuck!"

Neverin smiled reluctantly. "Okay. Only if I get to ride on the horse."

I groaned inwardly. "Of course, Neverin. Okay, up on my back, warriors!" They hopped heartily onto my back, and I grunted. We continued the trek towards the nursery.

"Ow!" I bumped my head on what was probably a pair of legs, and groaned. Not again, I thought. Who is it this time? People really should get out of the way of a war- horse. I looked up from my uncomfortable position, expecting Father to be awake. Instead, I met a pair of deep blue eyes. Eyes, I saw, that were... laughing at me? I sat up quickly, to the dismay of my sisters. "Whoa, horsey!" Neverin yelled, to my embarrassment. I reddened.

I heard a chuckle, and Legolas stuck a hand in front of my face. I took it, and he pulled me up. "Hello, Lady Minyaré," he said in a low voice, so only I could hear.

Standing up, I was only as tall as his chin. I looked down. "Um, welcome, Legolas, er-"

Thankfully, my father had already reached the bottom of the stairs and was ready to greet him. "Legolas, old friend! How was the journey?"

Legolas held my gaze for a moment, his teasing, before replying, "Pleasant, Aragorn. How is Arwen?"