AN: Hi Everybody! As of last Friday, I am officially a college graduate! I had my degree (Bachelor of Sciences) conferred in Lincoln Center-Avery Fischer Hall. Now it's on to Graduate's School. Two more years of school for me! (Yes, I'm crazy. Yes, I do like school!) The best gift I got for graduation was four tickets to see Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith at 12:01 AM the Thursday it opened. The movie was beyond excellent, though it was a lot darker than any other Star Wars movie. Anyway, I'm sorry for the delay because, other than graduation, I got stuck planning a talent show for my Girl Scout Troop as well as a trip to the circus. I'm better now though, having stuck the end of the year ceremonies on one of the other leaders. Hopefully she won't pass it back on to me since I planned it last year. Thanks for the reviews and I'm hoping now that I'm on vacation, I can update more often.
LalaithoftheBruinen: I totally understand about being confused. Happens to everyone once and a while. I'm glad you liked the chapter and I apologize for the delay on the next one. Here it is, though, fresh from the guts of my computer.
Elven Script: Quite alright, no need to apologize. I wish I could update a bit more as well. Everything is going to get sorted out one way or another for good or for ill. Depends on the characters and who's doing the sorting, actually. I am happy though you liked the chapters!
Shay: You'll see how Emma gets the news broken to her and how she reacts to said news. Probably going to be somewhat of a shock to her. Not as much of a shock as finding out she's an elf, though but maybe up there. Fire and Ice, actually, have their own story in the works mostly to show just why Fire's so argumentative and why Ice is one of the few people in charge of keeping her in line. I just have to add the finishing touches on that story, though. Anywho, here's some more of the adventures of Emma and Legolas.
pixie88: Finals are always a good time and they have that strange ability to make one person very crazy. I completely understand. More about Algernil will be revealed in time, including how she reacts to what her husband did. Wait no more, though, as her meeting with Emma should be taking place relatively soon. It just might go a bit better than Emma's first meeting with her biological father…possibly.
Lindiel Eryn: Ah yes….the meeting with Thranduil. That should be coming up soon and it may not go as Thranduil expects it to go.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a handful of made up characters. Tolkien thought up the concept and, as such, it belongs to him. I'm just playing in his world. I'm broke and in college. All I own are Pointe Shoes.
Emma had to admit that it had been a good day for her where her studies were concerned. Her grasp on the native language, so to speak, was slowly getting better and the work in the other lessons she was assigned was slowly getting easier. She just had to put her mind to the task and hope for the best.
There was just one strange thing about the lessons she took inside the palace walls. The instructors seemed to show her a strange type of differential respect. Emma assumed it had to do with her position as princess but she was never totally sure. Sometimes it seemed to be a positive sort of respect, an almost helpful or friendly attitude from the instructor in question.
There were a few cases, though, where she was met with an almost grudging respect. A sort of hidden hostility that wasn't given out in the open because it might amount to treason or something. If treason existed in Middle Earth. Either way, it was those classes Emma tried to keep a positive attitude in. After all, she'd managed to survive the openly hostile dancers she had once danced with. Why shouldn't this situation be any different? At least, in her mind there were no differences.
Thankfully, she'd only had one of the hidden hostile instructors today. Now that, in her opinion, was a very good thing.
She walked the familiar route to her brother's quarters, mind still playing out what had taken place on the practice fields today. She wasn't a warrior by any means, not like her friend Niphredil, but it was an interesting art form to learn. There was something very balletic about it, though she much preferred the arts to the sword or the bow or her bare hands.
They'd been working with practice swords, strange blunted metal things that she figured were used on movie sets in the Muggle World, the frustrated instructor trying to show them how best to block unfriendly attacks. Maybe even friendly attacks in the case of a spar with another student or a friend. Either way, things weren't going well as many of the students were complaining of numb hands from taking blows that were too hard or being treated with kid gloves because they thought they were tough.
Emma was of the small minority who believed neither. She could feel both her hands, even as they gripped tightly to the sword in her hands, and, well, she wasn't too sure about the kid gloves thing. If they were treating her gingerly, she was glad because this wasn't her area of expertise. Later, when she was with the dancers, it might have been a different story.
The class had ended with the instructor giving them a "special treat." Maybe the kind of treat Spiro would have enjoyed but not so much Emma. He was allowing them to pose challenges to one another and "lightly" spar each other. Many of the young elven males reveled in challenging each other much in the same way normal, human boys like to show off. One of the boys in the class, though, deviated from the norm and decided to pose a challenge to her.
Emma knew she couldn't refuse- After all, the pride of the ruling family was at stake here. - but she wasn't really keen on the idea of taking this boy up on his challenge. With a resigned sigh, she went against her better judgment and took the boy up on his challenge. Much to her surprise and, probably, the surprise of everyone else on the field with her, she managed to best the boy in their short spar.
Maybe that earned her some more grudging respect and maybe not but it was an accomplishment in Emma's mind. Something she wouldn't have been able to do in the Muggle World, she figured.
"All in all, a good day," she decided, as she made her way down the final corridor to her brother's quarters.
Once there, Emma regarded the door for a moment. Something told her that she was in for a shock if she stepped through that doorway. A strange feeling in her gut or something. She couldn't stay.
Still, it wouldn't do if she stood in the doorway all evening. With a polite knock to herald her arrival, she let herself into the room.
The conversation on the other side of said door stopped as a small figure entered into the room. With interested eyes, Algernil watched as the young elven maiden make her way towards her son. With the nearly alike physical traits- starting the newly brought to life queen since the pair had somewhat different parentage- there was no mistaking who she was.
Emma's eyes went from her brother to the strange female he was speaking with. The young girl wasn't really sure who she was, having never seen her before. Her questioning stare, eventually came to rest on Legolas.
"She's confused," Algernil mentally, mused, "Poor child."
"Did I come at a bad time? I could go to your dad's study for a while or I could go back to my home until later," Emma asked Legolas, sounding a bit baffled.
Emma started to inch towards the door, just in case she was asked to leave. Made for an easier retreat or something to that effect.
"Emma," Legolas laughed, "come back here and sit down. There's I'd like you to meet. You did not come at a bad time."
The young elven maiden inched back towards her brother and sat down next to him. For a long moment, everyone in the room sort of stared at one another, unsure of what to say or do next. Uncomfortable under a dual set of eyes, Emma dropped her own gaze to her feet. At least feet didn't stare back.
"Am I in trouble?" she asked, unsure of what else to really say and figuring this might have something to do with Thranduil.
"Far from trouble, Little Elf," Legolas replied, "I would like you to meet Algernil…my mother."