Hey look, another chapter, go me...still not doing my work and I have to drive to the barn in an hour for a lesson that will wrap me up till 6:30 so I better get cracking. I guess I better settle with only one update today...sorry for anyone following the story! I am glad to see that so many people are reading my story, and thanks to the couple of people who reviewed. You know who you are and I thank you for keeping my story alive. Andthanks to the elves for inspiration! Go elves!
Sadly, I don't own the elves, just Eriathwen, but that's cool, then I can make her do whatever I want. Look, she's on my desk right now doing the limbo! Never mind, she fell down. She's such a klutz for an elf, don't you think?
Working Things Out
Once in her room, Eriathwen sat down in a chair in the corner to think. She stared in the mirror attached to her vanity that she had failed to notice before. No longer concerned with her looks, not that she really had been before, she sat, barely even blinking, with a cold unmoving look on her face, and she thought. She thought long and hard. She thought about why she came here, and how she could leave. She thought about the places she had been, and had yet to go. She thought about what her parents might have been like, and why she had never known them. And she thought about the woman she grew up with, until she ran away as soon she could. She thought about everything she had done since then. She even though about Legolas, and her 'visit' to Mirkwood. She thought about what she had hoped someday to find, yet never knowing what.
She thought until she couldn't think anymore. Until she fell asleep in the chair, only to awake seconds later, from the sound of the thump her head made as it smacked off the vanity. She brought her hand up and rubbed her eyes. Once her vision cleared, she glanced round. She hadn't realized it had grown dark. What time is it? She stood up, only to throw her hands forward and catch herself before hitting the cherry wood of the vanity, again. And how long have I been sitting there? Her legs, her butt, it seemed like her whole body, was asleep and she a little trouble trying to walk.
Other than that, she felt totally refreshed, well her mind did anyways. The rest of her was crying, no, screaming for sleep. She hobbled over to her window to look at the moon and stars, to figure out around what time it was. Her left leg felt especially useless at the moment, and she kind of half drug it behind her, which was hard since her right leg, was almost equally asleep.
Even my arms are asleep, darn! She noticed as she fumbled with the door now to step out on her balcony. She did manage to open it on the third try, by using both of her hands. She continued to hobble over to the side, eager to be out doors again, to a point. She gave a little hop towards the railing, which she failed at miserably when she tried to push off her left foot, and fell forward. She threw out her arms once again to catch herself, but she fell onto the railing and regardless of her feeble attempt to stop. She tipped forward and rolled right over the edge. She gasped as gravity took over and in a last attempt stop herself from falling, grabbed at the railing. Her left hand missed, and her right hand nearly did too, but she let out a sigh of relief when she suddenly stopped and found herself dangling twenty feet in the air. Oh goodie, rock climbing. And my arm is still asleep! She yelled mentally at herself as she hung for a second or two, losing her grip as she did.She pulled her legs up to try and push off of what little wall there was. And my legs. My legs are still asleep. What next, an earthquake? Oh what lovely sarcasm this elf had in her head.
She really hoped nobody was watching her dangle from her room at what she guessed as she looked up at the sky was three thirty in the morning. I must have sat unmoving in my chair for almost eight hours! After shaking her legs a bit, she finally managed to kick off the wall and pull herself up over the edge and back on the balcony
. What is it with me and Mirkwood? Everything I do it seems goes wrong here, ever since I met Legolas that is. Maybe he's cursed. Am I cursed? Nah. I can't be. But I bet he could be… no that's just childish, get yourself together Eriathwen; you didn't sit in that chair all that time for nothing.
She leaned heavily on the railing, this time not falling off it, and stared at the stars. There are so many of them, each with there own spot, there own place to belong. Why can't I have that? She supposed she could easily build a house almost anywhere she wished, and live there, but she didn't think she would feel right, like she didn't belong. And no matter what kind of a house it is, it would never really be a home. Not my home at least. She gazed out at the surrounding forest where she had so recently been wandering, with no restrictions or limitations.
There's my home, that's where I belong. No one would even know I am there, they never do. "Almost never"she corrected herself out loud, remembering how she got herself into her little cage. She looked back up to the stars, a look of longing on her face. Millions of them were splattered against the black ocean, creating a beauty of its own, and to the right of her, the big silvery orb of the full moon beginning to set. She stared at them for quite a while, forgetting all sense of time again. When she finally snapped back into reality, the stars where beginning to disappear. Oh man am I tired now! She yawned and gracefully walked back into her room and slipped into her bed. She was sure she was asleep before she hit the pillow.
"Miss? Miss? Eriathwen? Miss, please wake up!" Eriathwen heard a voice, but she didn't recognize it, and she felt someone's hand shaking her, which she didn't like. What's going on? Why on middle earth is she shaking me? She was about to slap their hand away when she realized that who ever it was that was shaking her, was only trying to wake her up.
She opened her eyes and glared up at the unfamiliar woman who had been shaking her until that moment. She wasn't very happy about being woken, after clearing her mind the night before, she felt tired like she had never been before.
"Oh thank goodness you're awake. I thought you had taken sick over night…you are alright, aren't you?" she asked, catching the look in Eriathwen's eye.
"Don't touch me." she stated simply before sitting up.
"I am sorry miss, it's just that, well, you weren't waking up." She seemed slightly embarrassed to be in the situation, but Eriathwen didn't care.
"What time is?" she asked with a bite. She casually flipped her hair, still unbraided, over shoulder and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Around noon. I brought your morning meal in at seven, but you were so sound asleep I didn't bother to wake you. When I came back with your midday meal a few minutes ago however, it was untouched and you were still in bed." She motioned to the two trays on the dresser, one from the morning and the other for the current noon meal. "I decided to wake you, figuring you would be hungry, but I could not rouse you from your sleep. I thought I might have to go fetch the prince."
Eriathwen gave her a cold look. "I was tired, tired people sleep. Tired people don't eat, they SLEEP!" she belted out the last word with emphasis quite unnecessary. The woman stepped back, quite insure of what to do.
"Well I am sorry, but it is not normal for elves to sleep until noon!" she blurted out, almost equally loud.
"Well perhaps then I am not NORMAL!" she bellowed, chucking her pillow at her at the last word. The woman turned on her heel and bustled out the door, not bothering to shut it. "Yeah and while your at it, bring me my clothes back!" she yelled after her, remembering that she was still wearing someone else's shirt.
The two men out side her room both turned their heads to stare at her when she said this, curious looks on their faces, and smirked when they saw her standing there disheveled, ranting and raving. She let out a loud exasperated sigh and marched forward. She gave them a 'if looks could kill' look then promptly slammed the door in their faces. And to her satisfaction, she heard a thud of the door hitting one of them in the nose, followed by an 'ow'. "Serves them right." She muttered under her breath as she walked back to her bed.
She sat down on the edge and stared at the food on the dresser. Her belly grumbled as looked upon on her now cold breakfast, and her somewhat warm lunch. "Well I am hungry, so I might as well." She mumbled as she began to eat. After emptying both trays, and completely draining the pitcher of whatever it was they had put in it, she was used to only water, she walked over to her vanity, where a small table next to it stood with a porcelain basin fitted into its fixture. Under the basin a large matching pitcher rested in a spot of its own, filled with fresh cool water.
Even the basin and pitcher have a place where they belong. She thought as she poured the water into the basin and dipped her hands into the clear liquid still swirling around in a wobbly circle. She splashed it repeatedly on her face as if she were kneeling at the edge of a small brook or stream. And, letting her mind wander, she was at a stream in the woods, far from any one or any buildings. The water ran smoothly over her fingers and fell back into place in the stream bed with the rest of the water.
She looked up at the trees, and slowly they melted back into the walls of her room. She stared down at the water slipping though her fingers and falling with a gentle splash. She stared down at her reflection, broken up by the rippling of the water. The water dripped slowly off her face and splashed back in the basin, screwing her reflection up.
Why do I feel this way? Why am I never happy, even when I should be? What's wrong with this world? She swung her hand down and splashed the water angrily with sudden frustration. What's wrong with me? She sat down, back against the wall and buried her head quietly into her knees. Her shoulders shook and her hair drooped down over face, clinging to her cheeks, dampened by the water still. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I've got to work this out. Her shoulders heaved and she breathed heavily, as though she could not get air into her lungs fast enough. Some might have called it silent crying, but others, more observant, would have noticed that she shed no tears.