Lady mercy

Convinced our voices can't be heard
We just want to scream it louder and louder and louder
What the hell we fighting for?
-Queen, Hammer to Fall

Delanie Grey stomped out of the house, a frustrated scream hanging on the air behind her as the other four stared at the slammed door. Wrapping her shawl around her, she stalked down the street of the small Colorado town she lived in, fuming. I can't believe Rhianne told them! Damnit, what is their problem with my reading about Middle Earth? I mean, the worst thing I've come across is that diary. You'd never see something like that in any of the histories, after all.

She kicked at a stone, nudging her toe under it and tossing it into the air. Rolling it in her fingers a moment, she threw it as hard as she could towards the forest that bordered the town, glaring at the stone as it arced. A yelp escaped her as it shattered, and she ducked, avoiding shrapnel.

Ada would be pissed if he saw me doing that. Maybe more upset than he was when he found out I read Arwen's diary. Though why, I don't know. I've had boyfriends, I know what sex is. Maybe he's still clinging to seriously outdated morals and all, but I don't see the problem with her having a lover on the side, when she knew Aragorn had a boyfriend. It doesn't look like it made a difference in their public image, anyway.

She leaned against a tree at the edge of the forest a moment, before slipping into the twilight gloom of the late afternoon beneath the canopy. "What are they waiting for? What are they trying to do?" she whispered to herself, her footfalls silent on the leaf litter.

"It's a long story, Delanie," she heard behind her, and spun, glaring at Elrond. She hadn't heard him come up, and she resented his ability to sneak up on her.

"And? I have nothing better to do, since ada won't let me get a life of my own." She leaned against a tree, her arms crossed over her chest. "Enlighten me."

Elrond raised an eyebrow. "You might want to return to the house to hear it all. Unless you care to brave the coming storm out here?" A rumble of thunder in the distance underscored his words, and Delanie sighed.

"I don't know how you do that, Uncle Elrond," she muttered as she pushed away from the tree, walking with the elf back towards the house. "This story had better be good."

She thought she heard a sigh from Elrond. "If interesting is good."

"Always, Uncle Elrond."

FIN