Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR. I also don't own Caleniel, Cadunír, Elvellaswen, Rodwen, 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 7- Realizations
Gaenír woke Caleniel early, before the sun had fully risen. After a quick breakfast of lembas, they set off, moving quicker than they had been moving the day before.
Caleniel stayed quiet throughout the morning. Though many questions raced through her mind. Why was Gaenír rushing to get away from Mirkwood, they were already far enough away that they didn't have to worry about anyone finding them, except maybe Legolas.
The day passed quickly, Gaenír and Caleniel rode on in silence, except the occasional comment or question, mainly from Caleniel. As they neared Mirkwoods borders a feeling of anxiety grew in Caleniels mind, something did not seem quiet right. Her suspicions were proved correct when they reached Mirkwood borders. There, standing in a group, were a bunch of orcs.
Gaenír said something to them in a language she recognized, yet didn't understand. The orcs who had attacked her and her companions on their way to Mirkwood had spoken in this strange tongue.
The orcs, upon Gaenír and Caleniels arrival, had gathered around the horses. Gaenír turned to her, motioning silently for her to dismount, immediately dismounting his own horse after her.
"Gaenír…" Caleniel started to ask something, but was cut off by a sharp pain at the base of her skull, then darkness.
Legolas drew his sword and charged forward. His target easily dodged, jumping over his head. Spinning around Legolas barely blocked an attack aimed at his neck before pushing forward again, this time successfully knocking the twin daggers out of his opponent's hands.
"I win." He smiled and sheathed his sword before offering the she-elf, who was sprawled out on the ground, a hand up.
Aearoniell chuckled; accepting the hand Legolas offered her. Instead of allowing herself to be pulled up, she pulled Legolas down. Placing her foot securely on his flat stomach, she flipped him over. The momentum carrying her over as well, landing her on top of him while he looked up at her, stunned by the sudden move.
"Are you sure you have won?" She smiled seductively, leaning in close to Legolas, her breath brushing lightly over his face. She brushed her lips gently across his.
Legolas responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. His tongue snaked out to run across her bottom lip, asking for entrance. Aearoniell smiled against his lips and pulled away, forcing Legolas's arms away from her as she stood up and brushed herself off.
Gaenírs fingers lightly traced Caleniels jaw line. She had been out cold for several hours, not even stirring once in the short trip back to his palace. Chuckling to himself, he turned away from her limp form.
"Let's see how Aearoniell is doing." He mumbled to himself. A quick wave of his hand opened a shimmering portal.
He chuckled again, amused to find Aearoniell, disguised as Caleniel, in a mock battle with the Prince. His eyes narrowed suddenly.
Aearoniell had made a mistake, or rather several mistakes. She looked like Caleniel, true, but she was not acting as Caleniel would have, the kiss proved that. Her weapon was the other mistake. He knew from personal experience that Caleniel did not carry twin daggers, let alone use them.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose he sighed. Those two mistakes could blow her cover, yet neither the Prince nor the dwarf noticed. Well, the dwarf shouldn't, but the Prince, the Prince should notice, eventually.
"Not that it matters much now. I have Caleniel." A groan from behind him caught his attention. He turned around to face Caleniel, who was now sitting up, quietly taking in her surroundings.
The moment Caleniel saw Gaenír her eyes widened in surprise, though as she remembered what had happened, her eyes narrowed, never leaving Gaenír.
Gaenír ignored Caleniels glare, instead choosing to watch Aearoniell, Legolas, and the dwarf talking. Caleniel, noticing the direction of his gaze, stood and moved to stand behind him, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head.
She stared in shock as Legolas wrapped his arm around an elf. An elf that looked like her!
Gaenír mentally sighed, having realized his mistake of leaving the portal open when Caleniel had awakened. He suspected that she had questions, but was still to shocked to speak. He closed the portal and turned to face her.
"I suppose you want an explanation." It was more of a statement than it was a question, but Caleniel nodded anyway.
"It's simple, really. I had to find a way to keep the Prince distracted while I went to meet you in Mirkwood. That elf, Aearoniell, was the only one I found that was capable of doing so. She agreed to keep him distracted long enough, though it took longer than I had thought it would." Gaenír lied. It was close to the truth, Aearoniell was the only one capable of distracting Legolas in the way that was needed, and it had taken longer than he had thought, just not in the way she thought he meant it.
It had taken him longer than he had thought because of her father and his choice to have his only daughter, Caleniel, marry someone whom he deemed worthier that Gaenír. Someone who could give his daughter everything she could ever want. Yet, the older elf had failed to realize that Caleniel had already fallen in love with him. Which had opened the door to a new idea. An idea of how he could get what he wanted, and to what he wanted, Caleniel was the key.
Caleniel remained silent, torn between her instincts, which told her he wasn't telling her everything, and her love for him, which told her to just trust him, that he would never do anything to hurt her.
He would never hurt me.
What about the orcs? He spoke to them, in the same language as the orcs whom had attacked you did. And yet you chose to trust him.
He has been living as an outcast; we know nothing of what he has been through. For all we know he could have been captured by orcs and just learned the language when he was trying to escape.
Stop being naïve! You should know by now that not everything is a fairy tale. Do you really think that he could possibly have taught himself the orcs language? That is most improbable.
I don't care. I love him, and I shall trust him to prove my love.
Caleniel argued with herself for a few moments before placing her trust in her heart, blocking out the protests of her instincts.
"I trust you." She whispered, her word catching Gaenír off-guard. He hadn't expected her to give in so easily. "I love you, so how can I not trust your words." She looked him straight in the eye.
"I love you to, Caleniel." Gaenír smiled to himself, once again having Caleniel in his arms. In the past, he had loved her, although he had just been using her he had found himself in love with her. He had been upset when her father changed his mind, and angered to the point that he plotted his revenge on the elf, and lived only to carry out that revenge for several years. Until he met Aearoniell. Aearoniell had helped him realize that his original goal was still possible to achieve, and that he could have his revenge as well.
Now, as he held her against him, he realized that his love had disappeared. Now she was just a tool to get revenge. As far as he was concerned she was dispensable.
Legolas watched Caleniel and Gimli talk. His part in the conversation had faded, resigning himself to his thoughts. Caleniel was different. Something about her bothered him, but he couldn't quiet figure out what it was.
She looked exactly the same as she did in Mirkwood, though why would she look any different? The way she acted was different, she was more lady like, she walked with the same grace as before, but the way she acted was different.
Gimli looked over at Legolas. Legolas had stopped talking a while ago, and Caleniel hadn't seemed to notice yet, she was to busy talking with him about the Lady Galadriel. Aearoniell noticed Gimli's gaze and looked at Legolas.
"Legolas? Are you alright?" She turned to face him.
"Huh? Oh, yes, I'm fine Caleniel." Legolas smiled to reassure her. "I think we should leave soon." Legolas turned to Gimli. "The sooner the better." This surprised Gimli. He understood that Legolas did have responsibilities he had to attend to, though he had hoped that he would stay longer, it had been a long time since they had last spoken.
"You can leave whenever you're ready." Gimli smiled, a thought suddenly coming to him. Legolas had dropped out of the conversation, and when he had realized it and looked at him he was deep in thought. Maybe he was finally thinking about what he had said, about the differences between the Caleniel he had described and the Caleniel who had shown up when he was getting ready to leave.
"I think we should leave in the morning." Legolas moved off ahead, obviously still lost in his own thoughts.
"You had better go get your stuff ready, you'll be leaving at dawn." Gimli advised Caleniel, only to realize that she didn't have much to pack, she had arrived with nothing but what she was wearing. Gimli shook his head, wandering off in the direction Legolas had gone in.
When Aearoniell was sure Gimli and Legolas were out of sight and hearing range she muttered something under her breath. Immediately she looked like herself again, her green eyes fading into pale lavender.
"I guess I'm through here. Well, after I have a little chat with the Prince." Aearoniell laughed quietly. She knew where the Prince was going, and that Gimli, despite the appearance that he was going to go off and do something that he was supposed to be doing in the first place, was really following Legolas. He suspected something about her, and while he had been right Legolas had told him that he had been wrong.
Aearoniell walked silently toward Legolas's room. She could hear the voices of Gimli and the prince grow louder the closer she got. They were talking quietly, trying to not draw any unwanted attention to their conversation.
"There is something different about her," They were talking about her.
"So you finally noticed." Gimli spoke sarcastically. He didn't know Caleniel, Legolas had only described her to him, but he could tell that something wasn't right about the she-elf that claimed to be Caleniel.
"Something about her isn't right." Legolas's voice dropped almost to a whisper, Aearoniell could hardly hear what he had said.
"Something isn't right about me, huh?" She opened the door and stepped in. "I can tell you what isn't right about me. I'm Aearoniell, I was sent here to delay your return to Mirkwood long enough so that Gaenír could kidnap your precious Caleniel" Aearoniell smirked at the elf, who just stood there, trying to comprehend what the she-elf was telling him.
"What does Gaenír want with Caleniel?" Legolas calmed his nerves, realizing that he should try to get as much information out of Aearoniell while he could.
"What does he want with her? Simple, he wants the power she can offer him."
"What power?" Legolas looked confused.
"Her father is close to Elrond, if he can get close to Cadunír, he can get close to Elrond. That is all you need to know. Though none of this information will do you any good, dearest prince." Aearoniell chuckled. If Gaenír was able to get his idea to work then anything that the Prince said about Gaenír wouldn't be believed.
Legolas drew his sword from its sheath, preparing himself to fight.
"You think a sword will hurt me?" Aearoniell smirked, the words of a spell already forming in her mind.
She threw the flaming ball that formed in her hand at Legolas and Gimli, who barely dodged it.
"I use magic more than physical strength, so have fun trying to actually hit me with that stupid sword." Aearoniell watched as Legolas charged her.
Aearoniell disappeared momentarily, reappearing outside the door of Legolas's room. Again, the words of the spell formed in her mind before she had even thought which one to use.
Aearoniell smirked happily. She hadn't had this much fun in a long time.
"You should feel honored, Prince. I haven't summoned a daemon in a long time, and you two shall be the ones to witness it." Aearoniell stepped back; keeping her distance from the fiery figure that was forming in front of the dwarf and elf.