Chapter 7 Transformation
Harry stood in front of the window just staring out at the city. These were his last hours as a human and he had no regrets. It was almost sunset and the sky was painted in gold and pink, a cool breeze was blowing from the west. Tonight there would be a feast for Harry. Celebration both for his becoming an elf and for the last of the Raumoraa line being found.
His ceremonial outfit was that of an elven noble. He wore a light silver dress shirt and silver pants under his ceremonial robe. The robe was white with large sleeves and intricate silver designs were stitched around the collar, sleeves, and base of the garment. His hair had been braided and a silver circlet imbedded with tiny emeralds had been placed over his brow where it wound around the back of his head to interweave with his hair. It had once belonged to his grandfather, and now it had been passed down to Harry as his heir. His feet were left bare for the ceremony.
"Corintur?" He turned and saw Laurea in the doorway. It's time to go Corin." He nodded shakily. Now that it was time, he began to grow nervous.
They and the rest of the family left the house and began walking down the streets towards the palace where the ceremony room was located. Slowly, elves came out of the houses on either side of the streets and helped escort him. No one spoke. The only sounds were the birds in the trees, the pounding of the great waterfall, and the padding of feet.
Finally, they came to it. A great hall stood before them and at the end of it, two huge double doors. The gathering of elves entered the room behind him and he proceeded forward. One of the elven priests touched his staff to the doors and softly spoke a few elvish sentences. Slowly, the doors swung open. Harry entered the large round room beyond and the doors closed again silently. Laurea, her family and all the elves stood waiting in anticipation.
As Harry entered the room and the doors closed behind him, the first thing he saw was a large white stone sphere. It seemed to glow with an unearthly light and was set on an intricate silver pedestal. The rest of the room was decorated with painted murals and inlaid silver designs on the walls all the way up to the rounded ceiling. The murals told the story of the elves history and the silver designs shone brightly from the light of the sphere. The floor was marble inlaid with silver designs and runes forming a circle around the pedestal in the center.
Slowly, he walked forward. The sphere seemed to glow brighter the nearer he went. Up close, he could see ancient elvish carved horizontally around the center of the sphere. Now standing directly in front of the pedestal, he looked down and saw an elaborate elvish star carved on top. On either sides of the sphere two hand sized spots glowed. Holding his breath, he raised his hands from his sides and placed them on the orb. Right as his fingers touched he closed his eyes as bright white light flared.
Outside, light suddenly filled the cracks surrounding the doors and the elves in attendance murmured. This ritual hadn't been performed in more than five thousand years so many there didn't know what to expect.
"Atar," (father) Ailin whispered, "Will Corintur be alright?"
"Yes child, don't worry."
Meanwhile, Harry began to hear the soft sounds of children singing in ancient elvish. A strong wind was blowing and his hair and robes whipped around him. Quiet whispers sounded in his ears. They gave him the knowledge of his people's history, their language, the history of his family. Then beneath his eyelids he saw the sphere flare again and felt himself begin to change. He scrunched his eyebrows as his forehead tingled, and were someone to be observing him, they would have seen his scar slowly fade until there was no trace of it having ever been there. His head started to tickle and he felt his hair grow from the tops of his shoulders down to mid-back. Though he didn't know it yet, he'd soon find that he'd grown about seven inches taller and his face leaner. His ears grew pointed, his eyebrows became more arched. His eyesight grew better than perfect and when using night-vision, they would glow green. The most visible change in his appearance was the dark-silver streaks running through his hair.
Finally, the light dimmed and Corin removed his hands. Stepping back a couple of steps, he bowed to the sentient room, then turned and walked gracefully to the door. As he stepped out the entire assembly stared at the changes in this young man that they'd gotten to know over the last month.
The first to speak was Ailin, "Corintur?" she whispered.
He gave a soft smile, "Na ai'ea, ta naa amin." (Yes little one, it is I.)
With that, the dam broke and elves came rushing forward to greet him.
FROM NOW ON ASSUME ALL SPEAKING IS IN ELVISH
I will still include the occasional elvish phrase, though.
Later that night Corin was seated on a cushion in the palace gardens listening to the singing. The feast had been completely beyond his imagination. Then after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they'd come out to the gardens for singing, storytelling, and star gazing.
Singing, as he'd noticed in the Lord of the Rings books, was a very important part of elven culture. Corin didn't know very many songs, but he was a quick learner and sometimes hummed along or sang softly to himself. During one song that he knew quite well from hearing the neighborhood children singing, he grew a bit braver and sang out some.
"Corintur Raumoraa! You never told me you could sing!" 'Rea exclaimed as she came up and sat down next to him.
He grinned shyly, "I never knew. I've never had reason or opportunity to sing before. I find I quite like it."
She giggled, "You do sound very good, solo quality even. I think you have a baritone range from the little I heard."
Corin flushed slightly at her praise, and then looked curiously at her. "So what are you, soprano or alto?"
"I'm an alto. Aranel is soprano, so sometimes we get together and sing duets at festivals and such." She smiled at the thought and looked over to where her family was sitting about twenty feet away. They had chatted for awhile longer when the next song started up. This one was a story about a phoenix that grew to love an elf and became a she-elf to be with her love. As it began, Corin cocked his head, then with a smile became Talon and sang along. When the sound of phoenix song was heard, everyone turned towards them and smiled as they saw Talon sitting next to Laurea, head stretched towards the sky singing. When the song was done, he changed back and flushed at the applause.
"Lirimaer Corintur." (Lovely Corintur.) Serie said, clapping lightly.
A bit embarrassed at his display, he held a hand out to Laurea and said "Come on, let's walk for a bit." She took his hand and they walked quietly into the torch-lit gardens. As they left, many elves exchanged knowing glances.
Corin and Laurea walked in comfortable silence and when they reached a small grove with a white bench and a beautiful marble statue of an elven maiden, they sat down.
"Laurea? I was wondering..." She looked at him questioningly as he paused. Finally, he decided to just go ahead and say it. "What are the elven traditions of courtship? Er, I mean, that is... for curiosity's sake..."
Slowly she replied, "Well, it's very much like human courtship. Like giving gifts and spending time with each other. Unlike human courtship, it isn't taken lightly. Elves go into courtship to find mates whereas I noticed a lot of students at Hogwarts enjoy just casual dating." He nodded in understanding. "Elves also have an advantage over humans in that they can perform a small ritual to see if they're compatible with each other. Why did you want to know?" And she held her breath.
Harry had been staring at the statue in front of them during the explanation. When she asked that, he slowly turned and looked at her, slightly nervous. Laurea had to deliberately tell herself not to bite her lower lip.
"Well I, that is..." He sighed in annoyance at his inability to form an answer. "I'm starting to... have feelings for you 'Rea." He said honestly; glad to have it out in the open. Then he looked at her to hear her response.
She looked slightly stunned, then her expression softened and her lips trembled as she answered. "I have feelings for you too Corin." She bit her lip and smiled and he suddenly felt breathless. His eyes lit up, and he jumped to his feet, pulling her up with him and into his arms hugging her. They stayed like that for a moment, then he moved back to look into her face.
"'Rea, do you want to do the ritual? I want to make sure this is right. I don't want to hurt you if we're not compatible." She nodded and lifted a necklace over her head and held it between them. It had a medium sized clear crystal attached to a long silver chain which pooled in her hands.
"This is a compatibility necklace. Every daughter in every elven household receives one on her twelfth birthday. When the incantation is said, the crystal glows one of four colors. Red is extreme incompatibility, yellow is moderate, green is very compatible, and blue means the two are soul mates." She told him the incantation they would have to say and slipped the chain over both of their heads. It glowed white when they put it on. Then looking into each other's eyes, they said the incantation. The white light flared, and then gradually became a royal blue. They looked at each other incredulously; finally 'Rea spoke in a shaking voice.
"I never expected, I mean... for an elf to find their soul mate. It's like one in a thousand odds, mum and dad only had a green stone. I never imagined," She would have gone on, but Corin leaned down and kissed her softly. When he pulled back, she looked into his eyes and smiled at the joy she saw there.
"There's one more thing to do." She took the necklace from around both of their necks and whispered softly in elvish. The whole necklace flared with light, and then split into two separate necklaces. The second necklace held a man's ring. It was silver with runes inscribed around the sides. Their names were carved on the inside, and imbedded on the outside were three softly glowing royal blue stones, two small framing a larger one in the middle. "This is your promise ring." She said softly, "You wear it on this chain around your neck until the day we wed." She slipped it around his neck, her eyes never leaving his.
He fingered the ring, then looked at her and spoke. "Laurea, I love you so much. And if I had to wait a thousand years to be with you, I'd do it in a heartbeat. You make me complete." He took the necklace from her hands, the blue stone also glowing softly, and placed it gently around her neck.
She looked at him, her eyes shining. "I love you too Corintur Raumoraa."
They had been standing in the clearing talking quietly in each other's arms when Corin remembered the party. "Perhaps we should head back." She agreed, and they slowly walked back through the gardens, hands held between them.
