Chapter four is here! (Everyone cheers) Thank you, thank you. Review responses are at the bottom.
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Chapter 4: Identity Unveiled
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Finally Legolas felt himself fall onto leaves. For a moment, he stayed, facedown on a forest floor. Then with an effort, he rolled over and sat up.
Relief washed over him so quickly that it was almost painful. He had landed near the gates of the palace of Mirkwood. his beloved home. His bow lay nearby and his pack was next to him. But where was Elizabette?
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"Legolas?" called Elizabette, unsure of where she was. The forest was different, that was certain. Legolas stood quickly and ran toward her voice with a light, easy stride.
"Legolas? Is that you?" Elizabette looked at the elf running toward her. He looked different. Older, slightly, and his hair was longer. She knew him, though, by his eyes.
"Elizabette?" Legolas slowed. The elf in front of him was different. Older. Her curly golden brown hair reached to her waist, and she was taller, older. However, her hands were bandaged and her clear gray eyes were those of Elizabette.
"Yes. You look different."
Legolas touched his hair. It was again the length that it had been when he had left Middle- Earth. "I expected this," he remarked. "It is interesting, nonetheless. Look at hair, your height. You are an elf."
Elizabette examined the length of her hair and looked around in bewilderment. She gasped. Wh-what!"
"You always were." Legolas sat near her.
She glanced up, surprised. "How do you know?"
"Humans do not walk lightly as you do. All elves are silent and light of foot. And your sharp senses are Elven- senses."
"Did you know all along?"
"I suspected it but did not know for certain until this afternoon. Your world hides true identities." He turned toward the gates. "Those are the palace gates. We should go to see my father."
"Are we in Mirkwood then?"
"Yes."
Elizabette held out the white knife. "Here's your knife."
Legolas tucked it into his pack. "Come, then. Let us go."
"Wait, Legolas. Won't your father think I'm very strange? My clothes are different and my name is wrong."
"We can find you some other clothes," the elf told her. "But you may be correct about the name." He paused, thinking. "May I see the letter?" he asked after a moment.
Elizabette slid it out of her pocket and handed it to him. He skimmed it, reading her father's words carefully.
Then she drew out the necklace. He gasped.
"Elizabette, this is the Star of Eärendil! This symbol is worn by the house of Elrond Half- Elven."
Elizabette jumped up. "What? How did I get it? I thought that it was just a piece of silver!"
"No. This is mithril, truesilver, from the Mines of Moria, wrought into the symbol of Eärendil."
Elizabette took it from him carefully. "Is the chain of mithril also?" she asked.
"Yes. I know not where it may have come from. I will ask my father.
"Eärendil took a silmaril and sailed up into the sky as punishment for going to Valinor," he said thoughtfully. He was silent for a few minutes. Then he said, "If you want an Elvish name you could call yourself Elénwen. It is similar to your name and sounds nice."
"What does it mean?"
"Star- maiden."
Elizabette smiled. "I like it," she replied.
"Take off your bandages for a moment," Legolas requested.
Elizabette took them off as asked and was amazed to see that the slashes from the whip were merely red marks across her palms. "Where did they go? How did they heal so quickly?"
Legolas seemed amused at her astonishment. "A combination of the powers of the plant olva envinya and your own elf powers."
"Elf powers?"
"Did you not know? Elves heal more quickly than mortal folk."
"I am an elf then..." She looked up at him.
"Yes."
"That is amazing."
"The cut on your neck is invisible now. Come, Elénwen, let us go to see my father."
"Call me Elizabette," she requested. "Please."
"Why? I thought that you approved of the name."
"I do. I'm just not used to it yet. Call me Elizabette."
"Very well. We had better go at once to see my father. Be warned; he is stern and may seem unwelcoming at first."
Elizabette tucked the bandages from her hands into her pack. She slipped the necklace and her uncle's letter into her pocket.
Legolas led the way to the gates. He knocked lightly.
"Ma oatnë símen?" 1 An Elven voice asked.
"Nin, Legolas. Pelin." 2
A small door in the side of the gates opened and an elf looked out.
"Legolas!" he exclaimed. He added in the Common Tongue, "We thought that you had been lost." Looking over his shoulder, he called, "Latya i andor!" 3
As Legolas and Elizabette stepped through, several elves sent puzzled glances toward them. Where had Legolas been? And where did this beautiful elf- maiden come from?
The guard who had spoken to Legolas led them to the throne room. "The king believes that you are dead, sir. He will be quite surprised."
"Ai, do not call me 'sir', Duinral," requested Legolas with a smile. "You know that I do not like it."
Duinral shrugged. "King Thranduil wishes that we use formal terms of respect, Legolas."
Legolas' smile faded. "Has my father been worried about me?"
"In his own way, yes, Your Highness. You know what he is like."
Legolas sighed. "Yes, I know."
Elizabette walked slightly behind, feeling left out. She was nervous about meeting the king. No doubt he would think her strange because of her clothing and her complete lack of knowledge of the Quenya language. She hoped that Legolas would help her if King Thranduil decided to have her thrown out.
When they reached the throne room, Duinral slipped through the door and addressed the king in a low voice. He came out and bowed to Elizabette and Legolas. "He wishes to see you."
Legolas eagerly opened the door. "Ai! Atar!" 4 he cried as he saw the king.
King Thranduil sat up straight as Legolas came forward. Elizabette followed slowly and warily.
"Onya, cenilmë tye qualin." 5 In the Common Tongue, he added, "Where have you been? We have not heard any news of you for nearly a year."
"I have been long away and I have seen many strange things." At the king's gesture, Legolas stood from his polite kneel. He proceeded to relate in his own language the story that he had told Elizabette. Elizabette, bored with the speech that she could not understand, sighed. Her thoughts drifted away from Legolas and the king and she glanced around the room.
There was one other elf in the room. He sat at a neat desk made of dark wood. He read a scroll of parchment, written in an elegant script similar to Legolas'.
"Elizabette!" hissed Legolas. Startled, her attention snapped back to the king. He was watching her.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"Elénwen."
Legolas nudged her. "What?" she snapped at him. He raised his eyebrows and nodded toward the king. Elizabette shrugged and turned away.
"Where do you come from?" asked the king.
"Another world. My Lord," she added quickly as the king frowned.
"Why did you come to Middle- Earth?"
Elizabette did not know what to say. Legolas stepped forward. "I asked her to come, Atar. As I just told you."
"Have you no family?" This was again to Elizabette.
"None at all, My Lord."
"Who is this evil woman that my son tells me of?"
"She is the leader of the orphanage, My Lord. We called her Matron."
"Legolas told me that your uncle gave you a trunk. Who was your uncle and what does the trunk contain?"
Elizabette glared resentfully at Legolas. Why had he told the king that?
The king frowned. "Answer me!"
"It is locked, My Lord. I know not what it contains."
The king looked at Legolas. "You may go, Legolas. I will send for you later."
Legolas bowed to his father. "Tancavë, Atar." 6 He left.
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When the king finally allowed her to leave, Elizabette was led to a bedroom. She was quite irritated and almost wished that she had never seen Legolas.
She took the Star of Eärendil out of her pocket. It glowed with power.
So it is made of mithril. It is amazing that it came to me. Does it originally come from Middle- Earth? Elizabette was unable to answer her question.
Actually, she thought, If I am an elf, one of my parents must have been an elf also... Unless I am only an elf when I am in Middle- Earth... But Legolas had told her that she had always been an elf... He could have been lying, but why?
A knock on the door cut through her musings.
"Are you in there, Elizabette?" It was Legolas.
"Yes, Your Highness," muttered Elizabette. She was feeling resentful toward him.
Legolas opened the door. "What is wrong?" he asked.
"Go away, Your Highness."
"Elizabette?"
"I said, go away, Your Highness."
Legolas came over to her. He was carrying the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He set it onto the table. "Elizabette, what is wrong?"
"Everything, Your Highness." She injected biting sarcasm into the terms of respect. Legolas could not miss it.
He did not. "Do not call me that."
Elizabette said nothing.
"Ai!" Legolas waved his hand. "Elizabette!"
"Go away. I should have stayed home. You elves are all the same."
"You are an elf also."
"I wish, then, that I was not."
Legolas sighed. "Have you opened your trunk?"
"No. How can I? It is locked. Legolas, please go away. I am tired. I will speak with you in the morning."
Legolas left and Elizabette slept.
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In his own room, Legolas pondered what the king had told him.
During his absence, ten more elves had died. The symptoms were always the same. The elves had a high fever, weakness, and dizziness. A severe cough, usually bringing up blood, frequently appeared during their last few days of life. Less than a fortnight after the symptoms appeared, they died.
Four elves were sick at present. No one knew how to save them. No herbs worked. If they knew what caused the disease, they would have a better chance of curing it.
Elizabette was angry at him, that was certain. Legolas guessed that she had not wanted his father to know about the trunk. But how else could he explain things?
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Chibi Chingo: Yeah,grins, I am aware that my story is very cliché, but I think that it is really difficult to write a LOTR fanfic that isn't. There are just too many to write something original. Also, I happen to like that character:) I'm weird, I know. She happens to be something I imagined when I was about five.
Virtual cookies will now appear in front of you. You may take one of any kind you like:) Thanks!
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Navaer Lalaith: 1. I believe I mentioned that the dialogue in my story is Quenyan, not Sindarin. I explained that the reason for this is that I could not find a good Sindarin dictionary. This was all in the disclaimer- you might want to read it sometime:) I already have a large part of this story written and I don't think I really want to change it now. Also, Legolas gives Elizabette an explanation for the Quenyan... I think I already posted that part. Yes, I did- it's in Chapter 3. Sorry if it bothers you.
Another reason I'm not interested in authenticating my elvish is it's a lot of work and it doesn't really bother me. This is the only story I'm going to post on because I'm writing original work now.
The article was interesting- I wasn't aware of many of the points brought up. I did change Legolas' title and several 'Lady' s. I'm going to ignore most of the other occurances of 'Lord' and 'Lady' because when I imagined Legolas and my other characters I imagined them being like that.
2. Thank you for pointing out the name mistake- I guess when I read the books I just read it wrong. You mentioned that I spelled a few of them wrong. Does a few mean one?
3. I was under the impression that blonde referred to a person who had light-colored hair: he is a blonde. She is blonde. Blond referred to the actual hair: blond hair. I guess I'll take your word for it, since now that I think about it, my explanation doesn't make much sense:) Thanks.
4. The reason Elizabette and Legolas can understand each other is that Legolas, as we know from the Ring Quest, speaks the Common Tongue, the speech that all races of Middle- Earth understand. I thought I'd written this in somewhere, but I guess I didn't. I thought about it. Anyway, when Legolas is in our world, his Common Tongue translates to be similar enough to English that they can understand each other. Later, as you'll see, Elizabette's English translates to Common Speech in Middle Earth so that she can be understood. I guess I should make that clear.
5. I, as I already said, am very aware that Quenya isn't the language that the Elves speak. Legolas gives Elizabette an explanation for this in the third chapter.
6. I am quite aware that my story is a Mary-Sue. It doesn't bother me too much that it's cliché. I think it's pretty hard to write a LOTR fanfic that isn't, simply because there are so many other stories. If you have any ideas for me to add to my story, I'd welcome them.
7. Finally, thank you very much for really being the first person to give me constructive criticism. Though the usual 'this is great, keep going' makes me feel good, it doesn't really help me write better. You get two cookies. I really appreciate it and would like to hear more from you. Thanks!
Out of curiosity, what does your penname mean?
qwen: Thank you! I love you forever. (Yeah, I definitely like cliffies, too.) You get cookies!
I know I should really go over this chapter, but I really can't be bothered. It still reflects my writing style from seventh grade... which definitely isn't a good thing :)
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Please review. Thanks!