Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR. I also don't own Caleniel, Cadunír, Rodwen, Elvellaswen, Thinedhel, Gaenír, or Aearoniell; they belong to Tador and Aearoniell, who have given me permission to use their characters for my own twisted ideas.
Lady Caleniel
By: Mika Saito
Chapter 6- Tricked
The morning sun shown brightly in Legolas's face from the small window, alerting him to the fact that the day had started, and he was still in bed. Moving slowly, he sat up, the blanket slipping down to pool around his waist.
Dreams, or rather, nightmares had plagued his night. Things that shouldn't have affected him much had made him wake abruptly, a layer of cold sweat shinning in the flickering light of a dying candle, a scream on his lips, barely withheld in his terror.
Blurry visions of his dreams drifted through his mind. Despite not being able to see or remember what it was that tormented him so much from the dream the images still sent a chill down his spine. He shook his head harshly to clear his mind before he stood and dressed in his normal green tunic.
Legolas pushed the memory of his dreams to the back of his mind and left his room in search of Gimli and Caleniel. He found them together, talking quietly about something. A smile stole its way across his lips as the sound of Caleniels laughter drifted to his ears.
"Morning Legolas." Gimli greeted the tall elf.
"Good morning, Prince." Aearoniell turned in her seat to face the Prince, still smiling.
"Good morning Gimli, Caleniel." Legolas looked at Aearoniell tenderly while sitting next to her. Something about her made him forget about his dream completely, leaving him feeling warm.
"Did you not sleep well, Prince? You look tired." Aearoniell lightly brushed her hand across Legolas's cheek, as if to brush away a stray strand of hair away from his blue eyes. A small smile made its way to her lips.
Legolas looked at her curiously when her hand stopped, resting lightly against his cheek.
"Sorry!" Aearoniell gasped and jerked her hand away, her cheeks staining a delicate red. Legolas shrugged it off as nothing, choosing to stay quiet.
The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, for the most part. Aearoniells' hand had brushed against his several times, she looked away and blushed each time. The touches seemed incidental in some ways, so Legolas merely passed it off as becoming comfortable around him, and acting like the Lady she was supposed to be.
When he had asked her if she would like to take a walk with him she had accepted with a quiet nod, earning her a weird look from Gimli. This was not the Caleniel Legolas had told him of. The Caleniel he had described wouldn't have fallen off her horse and then not being able to find it start walking, plus her dress had been to nice, to clean, for one who had fallen off her horse. But he decided to be silent about the things he had noticed for a little, choosing to think them over, after all, this was his first time meeting the lass.
"So how did you and Gimli become friends?" Aearoniell rolled her eyes in annoyance, making sure Legolas was not watching her.
"I'm not sure, really. But I guess we started thinking of each other as friends about the time we passed through Lothlórien. Lady Galadriel helped Gimli change his mind about elves."
"Yes, Gimli was talking about Lady Galadriel quiet a bit." Aearoniell giggled, hiding any signs of her annoyance when Legolas looked at her.
"So, Prince, when are you planning on heading back to Mirkwood?" Aearoniell stopped walking, her eyes remaining downcast.
"Please call me Legolas." He corrected her, thinking that she might accept the offer at informality now that she was acting more like a lady. "I was getting ready to leave when you arrived, but I suppose we can stay here for a couple more days." Aearoniell smirked, wrapping her arms around Legolas's neck and burying her face in his neck to hide it.
Legolas gave into what his mind told him and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer to him.
When she pulled away while mumbling an apology Legolas realized something. He was happy. Happy that she was with him, his mind had become clear of the jumbled thoughts that had dominated his mind while she was in Mirkwood. He was happy that she had followed him of her own accord, nobody had told her to leave Mirkwood.
"Legolas, might I have a word with you?" Gimli called to Legolas, interrupting the nervous silence that had settled between the two elves.
"Yes. I'll be back in a moment." Legolas excused himself from Caleniels company and left the room with Gimli.
"What is it Gimli?" Legolas looked down at his dwarf friend.
"I've noticed something…." Gimli fell silent, not sure how to tell Legolas of the differences in the way he described Caleniel and the Caleniel who was waiting in the next room for him.
"What is it?" Legolas was feeling impatient.
"The Caleniel you described and the Caleniel that is here don't seem like the same elves." Gimli spoke quickly, knowing that Legolas wouldn't be happy with him saying they weren't the same.
"I've noticed some differences to, but they aren't that important." Legolas shrugged it off, as he seemed to be doing a lot lately.
"…." Gimli was silent, something wasn't right, but he wasn't going to push his luck by saying anything else about the differences.
Legolas took Gimli's silence as a sort of acceptance and left to find Caleniel again.
Rodwen sighed, Thriondel had not helped ease her worries that Caleniel was up to something with his spiel about how Caleniel wasn't stupid and would be able to protect herself in case of an attack. Even when she had pointed out that Caleniel's weapons were supposedly in her pack, effectively being useless in case of an attack, he had argued that she would be safe. She wouldn't ride out past the guards too far and if she were attacked they would help.
Rodwen had finally given up and went off to find Caleniel to make sure she did not do anything stupid. It had been a while since she had seen her heading toward the stables, so maybe she should check her room first. If she were back she would most likely be sitting in her room sulking again. However, Caleniels room was vacant.
A feeling of dread rose in Rodwens mind and she quickly checked the closet. She found what she had been hoping she wouldn't find. Besides Caleniels sword being gone she noticed that her training clothes and a few other tunics that had been supplied for Caleniels use were gone as well.
She rushed out of the room, heading toward the stables. Once in the stables she found that Caleniels horse was gone, and once checking with the guard she found that Caleniel had not left alone.
"Are you sure?" Rodwen asked the guard again, panic having taken over.
"Yes Lady Rodwen. Lady Caleniel left here several hours ago in company of another elf. Both were carrying a small bag." The guard looked at Rodwen with concern.
"Thank you." Rodwen turned and left quickly, needing to find King Thranduil to alert him of what she suspected had happened.
Shefound the king in the gardens, gazing at the bright flowers.
"King Thranduil." Rodwen touched his shoulder lightly to get his attention.
"Hm. What is it Rodwen?" He turned toward her, a surprised look on his face.
"I believe something has happened to Caleniel."
"What do you believe has happened to her?" The King's voice was calm, trying to get Rodwen to calm down as well and tell him the whole story.
"Caleniel left several hours ago. She said that she was just going for a ride and she had her sword in her pack, but she has yet to return. She didn't leave alone either. Another elf left with her, also carrying a small pack." Rodwen said, having calmed down enough to tell Thranduil all that she knew.
"Another elf?" This caught the King's attention and his mind drifted back to the conversation with Haldir about Gaenír. "Could it possibly be…." He mumbled to himself, having, for the moment, forgotten Rodwen.
"Do you know which direction they headed in?" Thranduil looked at Rodwen, who just shrugged her shoulders hopelessly. Thranduil left the gardens quickly, heading toward his room and calling for a couple of elves to follow him.
Once in his room it didn't take the King long to find what he was looking for, a few sheets of paper and a quill. About the time he set the quill down someone knocked on the door.
"Come in." He called while rising from his seat. The door opened and two elves stepped in. "Take this to Cadunír in Rivendell," He handed one letter to the elf. "And this to my son in the Glittering Caves." He handed to other letter to the second elf and dismissed them. "Be swift." He whispered to himself, closing the door behind them.
He sighed tiredly as he allowed himself to plop back down in his chair. His mind wandered over his options. It had been to long since Caleniel had left; sending out a group of elves would be useless. He could only hope that his fears were wrong.