Chapter Two: Laying It On Thick

"I've been meaning to ask you two this for a long time." I begin, hugging my knees to my chest as I sit on the hard dirt floor, facing the cell containing the two women. "Why were you…" I pause, feeling awkward. "…why were you put in here?"

Arwen smiles, somewhat bitterly. "I thought you'd never ask. We shall explain, and then we need your help."

I nod, very confused.

"It is the work of your mother." Eowyn speaks up. She then tells me a story that I have long suspected, but had no substantial proof.

"So…my father, and King Elessar…are under a spell?" I ask slowly.

Arwen nodded grimly. "As is half of Arda, namely, the men."

I feel my eyes go wide. "So they put you in here out of spite? For all this time? I'd be much angrier if I were you!"

"Well, now we've got you, and we can get our revenge." Eowyn says, an insane gleam in her eyes. "We'll find a way to break out, and then the mission can begin."

"What mission?" I ask, suddenly getting excited. The mere thought of rebellion stirs something in me I can't quite place.

Two hours later, I am in my room, going over the details of our plan in my head. Arwen and Eowyn have clearly done this before. They have already broken out and disguised themselves as peasant wives, and then applied for the positions of maids. By no small amount of luck, they managed to be assigned to me and my room. After all, newbie maids would be just fine for ME. I'll be angry about that later.

The door opens and they bustle in, looking as if they have only the intent of cleaning my room. The woman standing in the hallway and observing them with an emotionless stare gives me a small nod. I really hate when people do that, because it feels so forced, since they're obligated to.

Eowyn waves her off, mumbling something about me needing to change in private, and she proceeds to shut the door in her face.

They turn to me, looking very satisfied. I can see, however, why the head maid was suspicious. While they were very precise in their disguises, they could not cover up their pride. The way they carried themselves, the sparkle in their eyes, speaks volumes of a title once lost, but not the essence of it. I look at these two upstanding women and wonder what in Mordor my father sees in Starr.

Yet for all Mother's supposed 'intelligence', she did not even recognize them. I'm beginning to think it's all in her head. Aw, who am I kidding, I knew that all along.

"So." I start, unsure of what comes next.

"It's time." Arwen smirks.

"I thought you were gonna wait awhile, gain their trust…"

"No, no, time for you to announce your plans to remain here. Then you can tell them you're off to seek out a house in the city, and your maids will be accompanying you. That's how we get out of the castle, no questions asked." Eowyn explains.

"Right." So I'm a little slow, give me a break. I mean, just look at my mother and the people I grew up with.

Arwen lays out an outfit for me to put on under my dress. I don't have to worry about it showing, for my dress is so poofy I could hide a horse under it and no one would notice.

I make my way down the hall to throne room, lost in thought. I can't stop thinking of my near freedom. I wasn't that informed about what the mission really was—all Eowyn and Arwen said was that it was 'going to change things for the better.'

Personally, I think anything is better than lady lessons. Yes, my mother finds it necessary to teach me how to be a lady. She seems to take great pleasure in pointing out my blunders. Is it my fault if I'd rather explore the forest than drink tea? That I'd rather hang out with the servants than with the dignitaries? (The servants have much better stories) And that time I put a fake spider in Nelleleighadettekyna's bed? I was SO provoked into doing that.

And it was pretty funny.

I enter the room in time to hear Mother's voice.

"Leggie-honey, you are so witty!" she lets out a silvery laugh.

Yeah, I'm sure he's hilarious.

"What is it, child?" Legolas smiles at me, and I wish I could punch him for everything.

"Erm…" I shift uncomfortably. I could tell Mother is mentally wincing at my poor posture, but won't let it show on her face. Ordinarily I would be going to great lengths to increase her displeasure (no matter what I did, she never really got mad, which always provoked me to try harder), but now I had a job to do. "Well, I've come to tell you something…" she nods, so I continue. "I've decided that I want to live in Minas Tirith." I blurt out.

Mother looks slightly surprised. Her large-almost-to-the-degree-of-fake-looking eyes went even, if possible, wider. "Why?"

"Well, I feel that it would be easier on you, with the baby on the way." Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my mom is about to have her thirteenth child. Amazing, I know. Note the sarcasm. "And even though I am the youngest, I feel that I can do more by being here than by burdening. I'd like to go out today and look for a house on a lower level."

"Nonsense, you must stay in the castle!" Celeste says, beaming a perfect grin. Instead of dazzling me as was probably intended, it made me want to smack her.

"Many thanks, my lady, but I feel that living in a castle is too good for me. I would feel out of place."

Boy, am I laying it on thick.

It works, however, and soon the three of us are heading out of the castle.

I detail what I said to the now undisguised Arwen and Eowyn.

"That's what I said, but what I meant was, 'I'm getting the heck out of this freak show of a family and going to live in Gondor, but not in the castle because I would go insane having to be around that blonde airhead.'"

Arwen fake sniffled. "It does my heart good."

I had taken off my dress in favor of the much easier to move around in outfit underneath. It was just a simpler dress, quite like was the other two were wearing. We stashed the dress in the entrance hall in some random corner to be found when it was too late.

"So, Saeriel—" Eowyn begins.

"Wait, no." I stop her. "New name. I've always hated that one."

"Yeah, she needs an alias!" Arwen suggests.

"But what?" I ask, curious.

"Rianne?"

"No…she doesn't really look like a Rianne."

"Saerwen?"

"She's not that bitter anymore!" Arwen almost laughs at that.

"Hmmm, how bout Seiryu?"

"GREAT! Fits her perfectly."

We are soon out of Minas Tirith. I am sad to leave, but the air smells better the further I get from that castle. Smells like freedom.

"So, what exactly are we doing?" I question. It is later on, at night, and we are gathered around a campfire.

"Um, cooking dinner?" Eowyn offers.

"No, on this mission."

"Ah. Well, we're on a mission to break the enchantment."

"Pardon?"

"The enchantments of Starr."

"Ohhhhhh….how?"

"That's what we have yet to figure out." Arwen sighs.

I can't help but feel slightly deflated. I had hoped there would be some exciting plan. I want things back to the way they were. I want to know my real father, not the one under a spell. My silly bint of a mother ruined everything!

"Well, I agree with you on that," Eowyn grins. Whoops. Didn't mean to say that last sentence out loud.

"Anyway, I figure we should go to Rivendell."

I perk up. That should be fun!

"Thanks to Ada's power, the influence of the Sues cannot enter there. Of course, once he leaves for the Undying Lands, Rivendell too will be lost to their charms."

"The Sues?" What in the world are they? I thought we were getting rid of Mother and Celeste.

"Oh, sorry, Starr and Celeste. They're Mary Sues."

"Right." Well, that explains a lot.