The next day, Florien threw on his normal, everyday clothes. He grabbed his flute off the table near the doorway and nearly left when Yáviel stopped him, taking the flute from her son's hands and putting it back.
"Nana I-
"No, Florien. You will be coming straight home tonight, I will wash your hair and braid it, we will get you in some clean clothes and go see your friend. No time for flutes, Florien. Now have a good day at work." Yáviel kissed her son on his cheek and Florien left without his flute, not at all happy about it but agreeing anyhow.
Entering the palace, Galion's nephew Nenmir cheerfully greeted Florien. Once, Florien had watched Nenmir, who was his cousin though no one but Tonus, Yáviel and Florien knew that, and Nenmir grew fond of Florien, almost as if he had known Florien was his cousin. The elfling was a young blond boy, and to greet Florien he simply tugged on the end of Florien's tunic saying "down". Florien looked down and smiled, scooping up Cield's child.
"Hi there Nenmir. Why aren't you with ada?" Florien asked as he walked down the halls.
"Ada lost me again." Nenmir said. Cield lost things a lot, and he was starting to loose elves and elflings too.
Florien chose not to answer that and instead continued his search for Cield. It was not hard for Cield was bound to be looking the most ridiculous of places for Nenmir.
And that was where Florien found Cield. Cield was seeing if Nenmir was in one of his boots.
"Prince Cield, I doubt your son would be in there." Florien said softly. Nenmir giggled.
"Well you can never be too careful… Nenmir! You scared me Nenmir, don't run off like that!" Cield snatched his son and snuggled the little elfling in his arms. Nenmir giggled and wrapped his arms around his father's neck.
"He greeted me." Florien smiled as father and son cuddled. Florien wished Tonus had been like that with him. Tonus had been, but not much.
"Thank you for bringing him to me… Nenmir, why did you run off when I turned my back? You have to stop doing so, all right ion?" Cield whispered to his son.
"See Malfinniel." Nenmir said in his squeaky little voice.
"Alright, we shall go see your sister… I don't know where she is, though." Cield said quietly, carrying Nenmir out of his bedroom. Florien sighed and jumped, startled, when a hand fell onto his shoulder, turning around Florien was relieved to see Galion smiling sadly at him.
"You look sad Florien. Wish you had an elfling like Cield does?" Galion asked. Florien shook his head no.
"I lost my friend recently." Florien said quietly. He could not just say he lost his brother, he could not bring up any mention of his family, stories of his family always seemed to end up talking about Tonus and often then would the elf Florien spoke to would remark an uncanny resemblance between prince Tonus and Florien.
"Sorry Florien, to hear that. Well I am afraid we cannot talk longer, king Thranduil needs us to prepare for visitors from Rivendell." Galion said. Florien nodded his head and quickly tied his hair up in a ponytail before following Galion to his first task of the day.
By the end of the day Florien was tired and sweaty, but Galion had made him a bath and he was forever grateful. Work had been harder than usual in preparation for the Rivendell bunch's arrival, and Florien was not used to such hard work. But the bath Galion made him was warm, relaxing and soothed his muscles. Florien did not have much muscle, either, so they where sore and weak.
Florien existed his relaxing bath, did his hair back in a ponytail and dressed in his clothes that one of the maidens had kindly cleaned for him. Florien liked how he was treated at the palace, he was not treated like royalty but they still treated him nicely.
Florien big Galion farewell and returned home. Yáviel was asleep on her bed, and Florien smiled. It would give him time to fix his hair like he wanted it to be.
Florien put his crimson hair into a ponytail, like he often kept it. He did dress in the formal clothing his mother wanted him in, and afterwards he awoke his mother.
"Nana, wake up. We're going to be late nana." Florien whispered. Yáviel gasped and awoke, gasping again at her son's hair.
"I have to braid your hair. Sit down ion and let me-
"No nana. I don't need you to fix my hair, I like it as it is." Florien stated. "We're going to be late."
"But-
"Nana, just come on! Tiriel is my friend and I do not need you to help me impress her, not meaning to sound mean Naneth. Now come! If I am late that will not be impressive." Florien pointed out. Yáviel sighed and nodded, getting up from the bed. Florien noticed his mother looked beautiful in a long, elegant green dress that went down to the floor. He could not look at her dress for long, for Yáviel gave him a very soft nudge telling him to go on.
Florien got his presents for Tiriel and left, Yáviel following. On his way to the town centre where the picnic would be, Yáviel helped him find some lovely flowers and made sure Florien did not prick himself with the thorn-covered ones.
Tiriel saw Florien and Yáviel coming from where she sat on a blanket with her father. Tiriel stood up and strode over to Florien and his mother.
"I am glad you came, Florien. I presume you are his mother?" Tiriel looked at Yáviel, who nodded and smiled at the young, blonde girl.
"I am, you may call me Yáviel." Yáviel said softly.
"I am Tiriel, lady Yáviel. Both of you come and meet my father." Tiriel brought Florien and Yáviel over to where her father sat. Tiriel gestured for them both to sit, and they obeyed politely.
"Ada, this is Florien and his mother, lady Yáviel." Tiriel said, sitting beside Florien and her father on the blanket.
"Happy to meet you, Florien." Tiriel's father shook hands with Florien. "I am Alastor. You are very fair, lady Yáviel." When Alastor took Yáviel's hand, he kissed it. Florien did not notice.
During the picnic, Florien spent his time with Tiriel, and strangely, Yáviel did not pay much attention at all to what his son or Alastor's daughter where doing. She spent all her time with Alastor, enjoying his company, Florien oblivious to the awkward behaviour.
"Tiriel, this food is great! I cannot thank you enough for inviting me to eat with you and your father. Times have been hard for my mother and I; this has been a nice treat." Florien said. He could not forget Locien's death so easily, of course if Locien had been here Locien might have already been kissing Tiriel. Locien and Florien where both equally handsome, but Locien had a cleaner, less worn-out look to him which was why he had always been the preferred of the two. If Florien had been cleaner and had nicer clothes he would probably be the most handsome. Florien was a very beautiful elf aside from his poor way of dressing and his meagre hair care, although Florien had some of the finest hair in all of Mirkwood.
"The food is nothing. My father has much money and can easily afford it all. I've seen you a lot in the town centre… I've seen you beg, steal and play the flute for food. I've felt so bad for you, but at the same time I've looked at you and noticed that you are very striking." Tiriel said the last part very softly. Florien blushed at those words.
"No one's ever said that to me before." Florien whispered.
"But it's true Florien. You are very handsome. Will you come with me?" Tiriel asked, Florien nodding his head.
"Ada, we're going to the lake. We'll be back shortly." Tiriel told her father. Alastor nodded his head, very busy with Yáviel at the moment.
Florien was brought to a lake, and Tiriel ordered the elf to look at his reflection.
"See? You are very beautiful." Tiriel muttered as Florien splashed his reflection.
"Not that much, Tiriel. I am just a poor elf, not a prince of Mirkwood." Florien said, cursing himself inside for bringing up the princes. It could get Tiriel to notice his relations with Tonus.
"You look like you could be a prince… I mean, you do not have the blond hair, but I just love the colour of your hair anyhow. It's a beautiful colour that I have rarely seen on elves." Tiriel said, making Florien's cheeks go red.
"Thank you. You have been complimenting me so much I have yet to even say a nice thing about you… Here, these are for you." Florien had forgotten about his gifts so quickly gave Tiriel the presents. Tiriel beamed as she looked at the gifts.
"This is so kind of you, Florien." Tiriel kissed the boy on his cheek. Florien grew redder.
Tiriel sat on a ledge that overlooked the lake, Florien sitting beside her. Tiriel picked up a strawberry and ate it. She took another one and offered it to Florien, placing in front of his mouth. Florien smiled a small smile and bit the strawberry.
Florien had not enjoyed himself this much in a long time, but it changed when he slipped from the edge. He had gotten too comfortable and his weight, or more Tiriel's weight and his combined, broke the edge off and into the lake. Florien had not the time to move, but Tiriel did. Florien fell into the lake, and Tiriel saw that he did not come back up, but he seemed to be frantically trying to.
Tiriel ran down to the edge where she could enter the water. She did not care that she was ruining one of her good dresses for she needed to help Florien. She swam into the lake, her dress slowing her, and she came to where Florien was. Underwater, Florien's tunic was stuck on a plant's branch. Tiriel grabbed Florien's knife off his belt and cut through his tunic to free him. Florien swam to the top, Tiriel following. When Florien got out of the water, he sat down, panting and out of breath. Florien made sure to wrap his arms around his abdomen. Tiriel noticed that he would not move his arms, that Florien was hiding his abdomen from her.
"Here, calm down, eat this, maybe it will help." Tiriel offered him a strawberry. Reluctantly, Florien moved his arms to take the strawberry. Tiriel could not help but stare at Florien's ribs. You could see his bones so clearly through his skin, it looked like he had been starved most of his life. Tiriel doubted Florien was of proper weight for his age.
Tiriel could not be concerned with Florien's skeletal figure at the moment, for now Florien was shivering as he ate and Tiriel had to bring him back to his mother and her father.
To be continued…Ah, poor Florien. But this is not that bad, soon his life will get worse…
Mistopurr: And what would happen to Rumil, too… Maelui is much nicer and very much the opposite of Veassen; he cannot stand to hurt another of his kin.
Karone Evertree: Nope, I have yet to tell you…
Haldir's Heart and Soul: I promise you, Veassen will be caught in the future and will get that punishment he deserves, somewhat.
Bberry06: And Maelui's nice too so don't forget Maelui! Galion was in this chapter, happy?
CapriceAnn: Oh, why a leash? He's your clone, do what you want with him! He'll get it in chapter 34, I think…