AN: Sorry for the delay but I was having computer issues….again. My dad had to take the tower into the shop for a bit because we were having problems with the machine freezing up on us and getting all sorts of nasty pop up ads and things like that. Strange thing is that this is like the second or third time this has happened to the computer. Maybe we need to get someone else in to fix the computer! Anywho, I'm going to try to get myself back on track here and update all of my on going misadventures. I hope you're all enjoying the little misadventure that we're all on at the moment. Please, keep reading and reviewing! A review or two always surprises me and makes me feel better! All of you reviewers rock like a giant box of shiny socks!
pixie88: I'm glad you liked the little bonding time between the two siblings! I'm also glad you liked the fact Emma's on observant little elf. She is wary because of her past and the people she danced with but her dancing has also helped her look at details and see if they're important. Legolas is just concerned because she, in his mind, is too young to be worrying about the palace politics. He's also not all that comfortable about having to defend his mother, either, since he figures that she's right for doing what she's doing. The only way to get Emma to understand that fact is by defending her, though. I'll make sure to be on the look out for those late night typing mistakes!
LJP: Don't worry! No wicked step-mother's here. Maybe a wicked biological father, though. Just Emma being wary about someone she doesn't know and Legolas having to defend his mother, something he's not use to doing.
Elven Script: Crashing computers is no fun at all! All mine seems to do lately is go all strange on me. There's some bashing coming up shortly! As for Shannon, she'll get her rightful position when she returns from her little vacation away from Middle Earth (and might get to do some bashing herself).
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 Graduate School. All I own are Pointe Shoes.
It seemed to Algernil that she had entered into a never-ending cycle. Every time she would find herself with her husband's half daughter, Emma would find a reason to skitter off into the distance. Not that she was being rude or anything. In actuality, Emma was being so polite it was frightening. She was minding every one of her manners when around the newly returned queen.
Still, Algernil persisted in trying to make friends with the small elven child. Sometimes she thought she was making headway, creating an inroad to get to Emma's friendship, but the elven child seemed highly wary of her. She acted like a small animal that'd been struck one too many times. It would come close if tempted with treats but never seem to full trust anyone because of its past.
Legolas had assured her that no one had ever laid hands on Emma, lest they incur his wrath as the child was under his protection at the moment. As much as they feared her son, Legolas had informed his mother, they feared Emma's adoptive mother as well.
A figure returned from myth, Shannon was one person no one wanted to cross. Though she possessed the spirit and soul of a once great warrior, the human woman was no great shakes with weaponry at the moment. She had her flashes from her previous life but they were few and far between still.
Her greatest weapon, however, was her tongue. She had sharpened it to the point where it could inflict damage just like any weapon. She had, according to popular story around Mirkwood, given Thranduil a piece of her mind as it related to Emma.
Legolas had assured Algernil that it was not some idle gossip of the folk living in Mirkwood. Every word of the story was absolutely true as Thranduil had told him the entire story after it happened. Apparently, he wanted his son to turn against Shannon and side with him.
Needless to say, that didn't happen and wasn't going to any time soon.
Still, it confused the returned Queen as Emma continued to skirt around her, trying to be polite but avoid any direct conversation with her.
"Perhaps she things I have ulterior motives for my actions," Algernil mused, mumbling to herself as she prepared for another day at court.
Sitting and listening to the nobles- and the not so noble sometimes- complain and bicker while her husband and his gaggle of advisors listened and judged was not something Algernil missed. She had always been known as the Queen of the People, going down among the small population of elves and doing whatever it took to help them.
If that required her getting her hands dirty, then so be it so long as everyone benefited. Sitting at court with at Thranduil's side and having her words ignored….well…that was something Algernil had little love for. Sure it helped those who needed it but she felt detached from them. Sitting on her high and mighty throne while they were below them.
"You know, my dear, you do not have to be nice to the little brat. She is nothing to me and will be nothing to this kingdom, once I get my way," Thranduil informed his wife, going about his usual morning ritual and forgetting, half the time that Algernil sat in the room with him once again.
His wife's behavior towards Emma had come as a shock to the ruler of Mirkwood and dismayed him greatly. Thranduil had expected her feelings to mirror his own or be that much stronger. After all, he had "disrespected" her memory and allowed another elven female to sire a child. He had expected her to be so angered and hurt by that that she would not even accept the idea of Emma being with the son she had given him so many years ago.
The opposite seemed to have happened, though, but Thranduil was a persistent elven lord. He would keep trying to turn his wife's opinion and hope he succeeded in doing so.
"I like her very much, Thranduil, despite the circumstances surrounding her birth. She is a very polite, well behaved elven maiden and is a credit to her adoptive parents and to Legolas, who gets along very well with her. I cannot see why you refuse to do the same. It is very easy to like her and I do not understand how come you don't," Algernil countered, continuing to plait her hair and allowing a smile to cross her face.
She knew the type of response she was going to get from her husband since he could not turn down such wonderfully proffered bait. As for liking Emma, Algernil chalked it up to the fact she was a mother and, to all elven mothers, every child was a gift. Something to be appreciated and enjoyed.
Plus, on a small and selfish note, Algernil was well aware of the differences in raising a son and a daughter; though she had no daughter's herself. She was already considering asking Shannon- Once she returned home from wherever she was at the moment- if she could have a hand in teaching Emma some of the more…interesting…aspects of being a member of the royal family.
"She is still illegitimate, my dear. She had no right to title or throne or anything else for that matter. Emma is lucky I am allowing her and that horrible family of hers to stay here at the moment. You must understand what I did was in the best interest of our son," Thranduil explained, walking over to where his wife sat braiding her hair for some odd reason.
With a smile that could have cut glass, Algernil countered, "Was it not our son who allowed her to have title and rights to the throne?"
She knew the answer, of course, but baiting Thranduil had always been fun. She loved her questions now almost as much as she did when she was originally alive. They were the best way to figure someone's true motives out.
Thranduil looked absolutely livid at her comment. His face turned a very interesting shade of read and he looked as if he wanted to strike his smiling wife. Of course, he would never do something like that- It was not a very gentlemanly thing to do- but it seemed he could at that moment.
Algernil, as much as he loved her, was a thorn in his side sometimes. Her questions could drive even the most patient of elves out of their immortal minds and forever was a very long time to spend insane.
"I do not know what possessed Legolas to do something like that. Perhaps she enchanted him, somehow. I have no other way of explaining your son's rash actions. He should have known better," Thranduil spat.
Algernil wanted to laugh but knew that would only incite more arguing. The "your son" comment only came out when Thranduil was very angry. Usually he claimed that Legolas was "his son" and "his son" alone. His mother had little influence on him. Were Thranduil a tad more observant of his eldest child, he would have realized long ago that Algernil was one of the strongest influences on Legolas and not his esteemed father.
Still, she shook her head and commented, "Enchanted? Really, Thranduil, I thought you were smarter than this. She barely knew who she was and you think she enchanted my son."
Laughing ever so quietly, Algernil continued, "Perhaps you just do not want to admit that you erred in judgment and you take out your anger on an elfling that is clearly terrified of you. You can be as thick as some of the dwarf lords sometimes, my dear."
Her words held no obvious anger, though she felt it in her heart. No descent elven lord would take out his anger on a child and here was ruler of the elves of Mirkwood doing just that. All because he refused to admit a mistake made long ago.
Things would have been a whole lot simpler if Thranduil just admitted his mistake and moved on. Allowed Emma to be part of his family but, no, the dwarf stubborn Thranduil would not do that. He was going to make things difficult.
Maybe that's why Algernil had returned. To set things right again….or something like that.
"Perhaps, she has enchanted you too," Thranduil commented, as he left the room and made his way over to the throne room.
Algernil shook her head, tying off the end of her braid and arranging a small circlet of flowers on her head. Sometimes she wondered why she even married than elf in the first place. No regrets, though, since, if she hadn't married Thranduil, she would not have Legolas.
With a sigh, Algernil made her way over to throne room as well. She would allow the subject to drop for the day as she played lynchpin queen to her husband's firm king.
She'd find another way, another day, to bring the subject up again.