A/N: Fiction will not follow the canon. Some dates will be accurate, some will not be. Inconsistent. Oh...and does anyone want to be my beta reader? plus: do you want to see how i picture the characters of my stories? their pictures can be found in the link i posted in my author's page. :)
Aielenamin
Chapter 3 - Reunions and Preparations
Five Days later...
Journeying made Arienne generally disoriented with her surroundings but at that moment, she knew exactly where they were. There was no mistaking the cool and damp air of the forest. It was so very unlike the golden warmth of Rivendell that she had gotten used to. But nonetheless, she felt completely at ease from the familiar scents and sights albeit the slight trepidation that she felt. The place smelled of warm earth and dewy leaves. Of Mirkwood.
They were about to cross the forest that would lead them to the entrance of the kingdom when Lord Elrond began to speak to her in that deep, comforting voice of his. "Is it still how you remembered it to be, child?" he asked kindly, surveying the majestic beech trees that towered above them, light filtering from the dense branches.
"Yes," she answered softly. "So much so that it is as if I've never left the place. It is actually perplexing, it is like the place had been suspended in time," she said as she absentmindedly dug her fingers deeper on her mare's mane to caress it.
Arienne chose not to mention to the Elven lord that she didn't like the way the place looked like it hadn't changed for she knew better: that the family that she left behind, everyone, the prince, would be different from the way she remembered them. She would have to relearn how they act and speak. It was a scary and confusing feeling that was slowly engulfing her senses. Especially now that she was summoned by both her father and her sister to help out with the wedding preparations.
She glanced back behind them and saw Elohir and Elledan talking with the two guards on horseback, she found it oddly nice that the twins wanted to escort her back to Mirkwood even though they both denied that, saying that they had official business to attend to. But she knew better. Nyeath was silently reading a book, letting her horse follow the one in front of it instead of steering it herself, and five other guards that were managing the trunks that they brought along with them. The Evenstar was to come to the celebration itself with the Dunedain six months from that day.
"You never really told me how you felt about Kethaera marrying the prince," Elrond started. He knew that there was more to the young elleth that she was leading him on.
Arienne smiled serenely and shrugged her shoulders in reply. "What is there to say but that I am happy about their forthcoming union?"
Elrond looked at her with his wisdom-filled eyes as if estimating the truthfulness of her answer. "You once told me about your phase with Greenleaf, my dear. Do you think I would overlook that?" he asked, teasing the elleth.
Laughing softly at his attempt, she set the truth straight for him. "It has been a long time, I was but a fourteen year old child who still had stars in her eyes. I adored him as a child for he was the epitome of the dashing princes in the stories Nyeath read to me before I went to sleep. But then, now that I look back at those days, I know how much of a foolish girl I was, and how kind the prince was truly to me." Arienne paused, conjuring the fading image of the Prince in her mind. Smiling quietly, she added with a hint of pride, "I have grown up to be a proper lady since if you haven't noticed, my lord. No more romping on the palace gardens and climbing impossibly high trees as my father had warned you."
"A proper lady, indeed!" Elohir called out from behind with a snicker. "Oh but we know better!"
"At least I know how to tell which ivy is poisonous from the other," she retorted with an evil glint in her eye. "It wasn't me who wiped their beh—"
"Okay! Okay! You win! You're a proper lady!" Elohir yelled, accepting defeat as Arienne batted her lashes at him.
Elrond watched the cousins banter with each other with affection. "But that is true, you have grown up. And that is why I am escorting you back to your father for I cannot handle all the marriage proposals that have passed me by these past few centuries!" he said jokingly, a smile tugging at his lips.
"If you wanted me out of your hands so much, then why didn't you just handed me over to any one of those who proposed?" she asked with a grin on her face as she glanced over at the lord.
"That is because even if I am not your father, I know you deserved so much more than those randy nobles," he explained affectionately. "You have a good head on your shoulders, my dear, and you're intelligent, lacking on every weaponry skills, but intelligent, nonetheless," he added, grinning at her ineptness with weapons.
"It's not my fault that Elohir and Elledan over there," she made her voice louder, careening her head to their direction, "refused to train me when I was younger!"
"Arienne, dear cousin, lady of our lonely nights, the swords that we had those times were taller than you," Elohir explained half-exasperatedly, half-dramatically to the impish elleth's accusation.
"That's true and when you did grow taller, you refused to wake up early in the morning to train with us. So tell us kind lady, how it became our fault," Elledan questioned lazily but was given a wry look by the elleth.
"Least you could do was make it seem like I wanted to know how. You didn't have to divulge my laziness to everyone," she dryly to the two who just laughed at her. "I am just grateful that you didn't make me marry one of those two imbeciles," she said to Elrond, rolling her eyes.
"I pride myself at being a good guardian to you Arienne, I wouldn't even dream of torturing you that way," he answered meaningfully before laughing at her shocked expression.
"We heard that!" Elohir and Elledan shouted at the two conspirators in front of them but laughing nonetheless with them.
It hadn't been always like that. She, accompanying the king and his sons to places and becoming somewhat a fixture in the family. But after Arwen Undomiel chose to love the mortal man, Aragorn, Lord Elrond sought to find a new female presence in the house. Who could be better than niece of his deceased wife, Arienne? She became closer to the royal family and enjoyed many privileges including being able to live in the palace grounds rather than in one of the numerous courts in the kingdom. Elrond enjoyed her company immensely for she was very thoughtful and caring to the new men in her life.
With Elrond now busy discussing politics with his sons at the middle of the travelling party, she had more time to think about her forthcoming arrival to Eryn Lagaslen. The truth was that when she received the news and summons from her father and sister, she was surprised. The old childish crush couldn't be suppressed and it made her heart lurch for a second. But she quickly gained her composure, chuckling a little bit at her unexpected reaction to the news. Legolas finally took notice of her sister a year after coming home from the war of the ring on the night of the Ehtele'mele festival. And then proposed to her four years later.
In the note, Kethaera was already apologizing to her sister even before she said the news in the letter. But there was nothing to apologize for, her sister was a beauty with a good heart to match. Legolas would be a fool not to see that. She had no right, of course, to feel bad for there was simply nothing to feel bad about. She had known him as a child and now, a thousand years later, she barely knew who he was. Though she was oddly hoping that even though it had been a long time since he had seen her, he would still be the kindly prince she once knew.
The Rivendellian party had used the shortcut that lead directly to the entrance of the royal palace that stood in front of a rocky mountain that seemed to protect it from behind. The upcoming feast for the first part of the engagement party was resulting in a large flurry. Delivery wagons were coming and going through the gates of the palace with the guards inspecting them before letting them in. Milkmaids with their jugs, carpenters with their toolboxes, florists with their assistants carrying bouquets of multi-colored flowers, butchers with large knives at their waists and musicians carrying their instruments were milling around, trying to find where they had to be.
The guards at the entrance bowed simultaneously when they realized that they had arrived. Reik, the High Guard of Mirkwood greeted them. "Welcome to Eryn Lagaslen, my lords and ladies. Theronal and Fisari will escort you to the manor itself," the head guard said, bowing again.
"Thank you Reik," Elrond said, his horse following the two guards in front of them.
Arienne spied what seemed like the kitchen entrance and decided that it was the most busy section of the courtyard. Parked wagons carried numerous oak barrels filled with Evermead, Saerloonian Glowfire, Arabellan Dry, Berdruskan Dark and even Elverquisst wines. Cages full of pigeons were being carried by two servants as well as sacks of nuts, spices and dried fruits. Jars of preserves, jellies and colorful marmalades were on another wagon along with baskets of carrots, cabbages, potatoes and other leafy vegetables. Large slabs of reddish meat, marbled by fat were partially covered by cloth; a trough was next to the entrance of the door with live fish jumping up from the water with stray cats eyeing the fare from a distance. The children were having fun poking the numerous live chickens that had their feet tied to the wheel of the wagon. Just then the baker arrived with what seemed like three wagons full of freshly baked crusty breads, sticky pastries and different kinds of cakes.
"Thranduil seems to have gone all out for this feast," Elrond said observantly, glancing at the spectacle that they had passed. "And this is just the first engagement party." Elves go through an elaborate ritual before getting married, at least three pre-wedding feasts that measured the wealth of the family, a year-long engagement, a mating ritual and finally the wedding itself.
"I think you would do the same if Elohir or Elledan gets married,"
"True. But seeing those two be content with just chasing anything that wears a skirt, it's impossible to imagine them getting married," he said with a sigh.
"They may surprise you one day, you'll see." Just then, the two guards stopped at the entrance of the castle.
"We are here my lord."
It made her still for a while as she took in the same dizzyingly numerous steps that lead to the hall of the main manor. She had spent countless of hours in her childhood playing on those steps with her dolls or chatting up the prince. She had been so busy seeing the flurry near the kitchen that the nearness of what was once so familiar to her was temporarily ignored by her senses.
The nervousness that she felt when she left Rivendell was back, it was speedily coursing its way through her veins. There was the pair of marble bears that stood at the entrance of the doors; she had been at its back once when Legolas heaved her up to grant her request to see the sights from the shoulders of the bears. There also stood the strong pillars that were covered with ivy, arches that seem to welcome the sunlight as well as the gnarled trees that seemed to grow and entwine themselves all over the manor.
She was finally home.
Word had apparently reached fast the occupants of the household for a slight figure appeared at the entrance, her hair loose and was breathless from running. Kethaera. "Arienne!" she called out happily, running down all 80 steps to meet her sister. Arienne jumped off her horse and ran to meet her halfway. Their embrace was heartfelt and touched the hearts of those who saw the reunion of the two sisters. "Oh Eru! It's been such a long time! I've missed you so much!" Kethaera said, kissing her sister's face all over as they laughed together.
"I, too, missed you dear sister," she said sincerely. "It looks like a war has been unleashed from all these preparations! You're getting married!" she squealed giddily.
"I know, and I'm happy about it," Kethaera said softly. Arienne frowned inwardly after seeing the look at her sister's eyes, yet a moment later it was gone. "It's been like this for the past two days. If you had come sooner, you would have gone mad from all these," she said, looking around. She spied Lord Elrond and the twins as they appeared behind Arienne. "Lord Elrond, Elohir and Elledan, cormamin lindua ele lle au'," she said, curtsying at the three lords.
"What is this? We don't get a hug like Arienne? We're disappointed at you cousin. Just because you're marrying the prince—" Ellohir didn't get to finish his sentence when Kethaera hugged the twins happily. "That's more I like it!" he said, grinning at her.
"It is good to see you again, child," Elrond said in his customary serene smile albeit amused at his son's bait at the future queen.
But their laughter and good cheer was interrupted when a deep voice cleared his throat. Arienne whipped her head to the sound, her breath caught at her throat. "A'mael kumba!" she whispered joyously her endearment for the older man to herself before running to the figure she hadn't seen in a long time.
Corellon Lasfaelgen embraced his beloved youngest daughter with tears in his eyes. "Nae saian luume', tinuamin," he whispered tenderly to her ear. "I am glad you're home for good," he said, kissing her forehead.
"I missed you so father," she said tearfully before giggling like a child. "Your belly seems to have grown rounder," she commented laughingly at him as he rubbed his belly. Elves are normally slim and rarely stray away from their natural frame. And yet, Corellon developed a belly rounder than normal elves have. Arienne suspected that it was because of her father's love for wine.
Corellon greeted the Lords from Rivendell and clasped Nyeath's hands as a familiar gesture. "You must all be so weary from your travels. Your rooms have been prepared already," he said jovially as the guards who escorted them there helped with the trunks as they started to lead them to their rooms. "The feast will start three hours after sundown," he reminded Elrond and his sons.
"Doila Ile, Corellon, we shall see each other later," Elrond said at his old friend after clasping each other's arms in greeting.
Kethaera stood behind her sister and clasped her hand, "You should rest seler', you have been on a long journey. Come, I'll lead you to your old room. It still hasn't been changed at all."
Arienne finally felt the fatigue that had been eluding her for the past few days of their journey. It would be nice to take a long nap before preparing for the feast that night. "Now that you have mentioned it, I am indeed very tired," she said as she followed her sister and father climb up the marble stairs. It seemed like it had more steps than she had last remembered.
Curiously enough, she had not remembered the prince...
translations, etc.:
Ehtele'mele - Elven festival. Vernal equinox. A week of romance and song.
Evermead - the elven mead, imported from evermeet.
Saerloonian Glowfire - wine, luminous, taste reminiscent of pears.
Arabellan Dry - fine red wine, very dry woodsy overtones and a slight berry taste.
Berdruskan Dark - heavy sweet and burning, almost black, HIGH alcohol content.
Elverquisst - a ruby-colored liquor magically distilled from sunshine and rare summer fruits. Utterly smooth, the liquor is nonetheless flecked with gold and has an iridescence of both color and flavor. It is highly prized at all times, but in the autumn rituals it is savored as if it is the gift of one final, perfect summer day.
cormamin lindua ele lle au' - my heart sings to see thee again.
A'mael kumba! - Beloved belly!
Nae saian luume', tinuamin - it has been too long, my daughter.
Doila Ile - Thank You.
seler' - sister
AN: finally, she's home. if you're good enough with reviewing, she might meet the prince (at last!) on the next chapter. ;) please review! :)