Apologises, this chpt has not been beta
He entered the stable and ignored me, from the corner of my eyes I could see that he was tending to his horse, and about time too! Just then I caught a little murmur of words, perhaps he intended for me not to hear, but that had clearly failed,
"Some one has fed my hose! He cannot be ridden!"
Well at least he had sense not to ride it
"That would be I, It is your own fault. You neglected it so I simply fed it in its time of need" I said as I carefully brushed down my own pride horse. For you see I had a bit of a soft spot when it comes to flowers and horses and pray tell do not start me upon the stars and Moon. In general I loved everything about nature.
"I did not neglect him! He is usually given his feed once in the morning and again when he returns from journey. He cannot be ridden now!"
That was a lie as he travelled this morning and I found neither water nor oats in the poor souls troth
"Well I did not know!" I glared at him, how was it my fault I knew not of his horse food schedule? "I would offer you mine but he too has been fed, anyway he would probably collapse under you weight" I said sarcastically, however from the way his eyes examined Celairclaur I could tell he did not take it the same way as I. After rolling his eyes he said
"Aldarian"
"pardon?"
"His name is Aldarian" he said proudly rubbing the stallions wet nose. A most charming name or a charming stead.
"A very suiting name for such a horse" He raised his eyebrows, perhaps in surprise that I could compliment anything that belonged to him
"My father named him, and yours? His name I mean" this could lead to a civilised conversation, unlike the previous, where my manners hid from me; and my mind spoke for itself. Though I have been told it does this constantly
"Celairclaur, and I expect that I shant have to state the meaning of that to one such as yourself?" I know not of what I has said, but a smile spread itself across his face, oh how everything other Elleths has said about him was so overrated. His smile was nothing to swoon for, and his body was nothing you would crave for, well not I anyway.
"That I do, but I will take a walk now if I cannot ride" He said whilst changing Aldarian's water
"Do what you will; I could not care less"
He nodded and turned to leave though not before saying "thank you, buy the way. For feeding him. Sleep well"
It seemed to me that he had also just found his manners. Though I thought him strange
"How queer you are" I mutters, there it was again, I was speaking my mind. He froze in his tracks. Curse us elves and our hearing!
"I do not understand"
"1st you berate me for feeding your horse and now you thank me" I explained
"I may not agree with what you did, but it is a good deed none the less, and that is why I thank you, you noticed that Aldarian needed to be fed and so you fed him. You fulfilled your duty to nature"
He had to go and ruin the conversation with this talk about duty. I swear that this was the only thing he ever thought of, so if marrying me was a duty, then I shall make it an extremely complicated duty
"Duty? It is always about duty!"
"If a young elf has fallen and scrapped their knee would you not help them?" Who would not? It would be cold hearted otherwise!
"Yes, I would but that is not duty! Any one would do such a thing" I replied
"Because of duty! You have a duty to protect other people, even if you have not pledged it. It will still be there within you" I had to admit, he had a point, though I was not planning to give in just yet
"That's because we have morals" I exclaimed
"Morals and duties are obligations; therefore they are the same things!" At this time I knew that this was a lost argument, yet still I had another go at it
"A moral is knowing what is right from wrong, a duty is something you simply *have* to do, because you have been told"
"And you have not been given morals and told what they are?" I had been defeated and he knew it, a large ghastly smirk he gave me
"I thought you were leaving?" I snapped, and so he turned and walked away. At least he was not one to gloat at his victory. I tidied away at the stables and head for home.
* * *
In entering, I prayed that nana and Ada would have been sleeping, but this was not the case. They were sitting in the front room. Ada's eyes scanned over me, a look of disgust he gave me. Perhaps it was because the state my clothes were in. Dirty and stained from mucking out the stables. Whichever, it pained me to see that look, as it does at times when he made me feel as though I was a disappointment
"I'm very disappointed in you daughter" My Ada said, confirming my thoughts, he saw me as a nuisance. Trying to steer away from this fact I replied
"Ada, it is not a one sided event, please take this into account!" I said trying to hold in the surge of heartache. However he replied
"It is your side that I am most concerned about Laingalad"
He talks as thought was unbalanced and queer and that I could turn into an Orc at anyone time.
"And what of his? Do you have no trust in me?" At this moment my Nana said "Your actions today have not made you the most trustworthy of people. Do you not understand the embarrassment you have put onto yourself? All the Elleths are quite astounded at how rude you acted in front of such an important person, in Elvin society." It was my embarrassment if there was any, and right now there was nothing but grief and shame. It was a wonder how no elf could do this to me, yet my Ada could. A solitary tear ran down my face.
"If it wrong that I should speak my mind, have feelings and live differently from other Elleths?! He is to wed me; he would not bring up his figure in society, and what of mine?" I questioned. My Ada's rage was now extreme for he scolded me.
"Don't be so childish!...." How could I not? I was his child, little have I've grown up at all, I like life being carefree, and then came Haldir and changed it all for the worst!
".....You have accomplished nothing, contributed nothing and have nothing to offer to a suitor but you stubborn will and unstable mind! Even now you can not grasp the audacity of your actions. We can only hope that Haldir seeks no punishment to be handed down onto you" That was all I could stand, my parents feeling of let down hurt me so. A stream of tears had now carved its path down my cheeks.
"I see you think nothing of me, as you clearly state. Well Ada, I will cease to annoy you and be of such a burden to you both, when I am wed" After this I stormed to my room, which unfortunately was next door, locking the door behind me. I flung myself onto the bed and cried myself to sleep.
* * *
Waking up next morning I felt no better, I could not face the world just yet, so I continued to stay in my room. Plus this way I could not be a pest to my parents, or anyone else. I got out of the hideous dress, then lay back in bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. For how long I laid there I did not know. People walked past my door yet I still, there I stayed; sinking slowly into depression. I dragged up memories to lighten my heart, yet it would not. At about noon I realised how hungry I was, quietly slipping from my room, I sneaked towards the kitchen, grabbed a few things and went back to my room. For days I continued like this, taking baths at night when most were sleeping. Nana occasionally came to my door and asked me to come and every time I refused. My time alone benefited me, practising my self-defence and the flute. An instrument in which my Ada had forced upon me to learn. I think he was trying to tone down my activeness, and bring out the 'Lady' side of me.
Six days later I felt as my old self, too active to lie in bed and think, I re-emerged from my room. Walking into the living room, the state that it was in shocked me. I could hardly see the floor. Wooden boxes piled a corner; ribbons and flowers scattered the floors. I went to seek my Nana, she had to be near, my pursuit went no further then her room, where I found her in a new dress. Her hair looked as though dewdrops had settles themselves on it in some kind of formation. Nana's complexion was one to admire, as many did, unfortunately I has inherited this complexion.
Perchance if I was not such a mischief and had a reputation of a jester, elves might flock to me. Fortunately this was not the case, and I did not have suitors.... bar Haldir.
"Ah, just in time you have emerged" Nana said whilst admiring her dress
"And what be the event I have just emerged from?" I questioned
"Why your engagement party dear!" Nana replied now leaving the room. When had this happen? I knew my absence from the world would have it's disadvantages
"A chance for you to make something of yourself" She continued, My Ada's words began to ring inside my head. How I was nothing and had nothing to offer anyone. This was not a statement she had just randomly said. It was her way of challenging me to be like other Elleths for a short space of time. Perhaps I shall accept this, then reverse when Haldir and I are alone. This was I had a reputation to others at the party; that I was normal. Anything Haldir would say to them afterwards, they will reject. Hopefully it should go that way, but no matter, having a split personality I could do. By this time Nana was now rummaging through the boxes. Finally she drew a few out, and dumped them in my hands.
"And pray tell Nana, what is all this?"
"Why, decorations for the hall of fire, and to decorate you as well, for sweet Haldir"
"Decorate me? So now I am a possession?" I decided I would take up Nana's challenge. Starting right now.
"Oh Nana, you do far too much for me"
"What do you expect? You are my only child; Right this is your dress" She pointed to a box at the bottom of my pile
"Be it laced?" I questioned
"Of course the best!"
I winced but then gave out a little squeal just to please her; grrr how I hate laced dresses.
"I knew you would like it" nana smiled " Now for the rest of theses, this one is your gloves, jewels and other things to pretty you up with, though I doubt you shall need it." Oh how my mother stood up to her name 'airhead'
"Oh Nana do not flatter me"
"Now, now we must get you dressed Haldir is picking you up in an hour or two" Plenty of time to become my nice side. Manners and courtesy of high standards would be essential, especially if s family were to be there. Then another thought came crashing down upon me. Wedding, this party was a notification for a wedding; It has gone too far to stop this from happening. I would have to learn to live with it, but accepting him was another matter.
For to me accepting such an elf would be accepting hurt and aggravation. That I could not even take the chance for, If Ada's word could hurt me so, then surly I would perish at the actions of one I dearly love. I am happy with how I am now, love make you blind to all other things. To it I shall not fall.
dakota: Lol, I'm glad to lived the two maidens, you won't believe how much fun I had writing that- Mo knows the glint I'm talking about... is this reply longer my dead nic nac or are you requesting an essay?
littlesaiyangirl: Infuriating? Good! That's what I'm aiming for!
Haldir's heart and soul: Yes I agree, is there a relationship? I think they've agreed to dislike each other.
chibi: We did have a discussion about this and I had thought about it when we started writing it in the format that we do. Yes, there is repetition but you do see new things in each chapter, they share various events but the coupled chapters always differ. The reason we decided to do this was basically to stop confusion and to make it easier to write. Because the two chapters are separate it means that both Candy and myself can write juxtaposing chapters at the same time, (during school when we're 'working') meaning we don't have to consult each other all the time other then to nick the 'script' off each other. And don't worry we don't go mad or anything, it was constructive criticism and that's partly what a review is meant to be about, a well rounded critique is after all what helps an author improve.
Tigger-180: *nods* Yes Haldir one, he was winning before we even started writing the argument- Mo gave up and made me write for both Haldir and Laingalad, so of course he was going to win!
nap-003: Thank you very much. No there aren't that many Haldir stories around, though they are on the rise. That may not be true it could just be that I'm only just becoming aware of his, well...presence in fan fictions other then the haughty elf that blindfolds them and points an arrow at Gimli (something we'd all like to do!)