Chapter Eight: Explanations

It was a calm and composed Nora that came to fetch Kendall for dinner later that evening. And after seeing Nora earlier that day, calm and composed was strange to her.

"Did you have a nice rest?" Nora asked as Kendall answered her door, yawning slightly.

"I did." She replied. "I guess the day's events really wore me out."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Agreed the younger girl. "Today has also tired me."

"What time is it?" asked Kendall as she glanced out a window and realized it was dark. "Have I missed dinner?"

"Oh, no." Nora assured her with a smile. "That is exactly what I was coming to get you for. Queen Arwen and King Eldarion, her son, both want you to join them for the evening meal in their dining quarters. That is, of course, if you weren't planning on doing anything else."

Kendall shook her head vigorously. "I most certainly wasn't. I would be honored if the King and Queen would let me dine with them!"

"Of course." Nora said. "I shall go and inform them immediately."

"Nora, wait!" Kendall said quickly.

"Yes, ma'am?" she replied respectfully.

"If I'm eating with a King and a Queen," she said slowly. "What am I supposed to wear?"

Nora laughed. "Anything but those, Miss." She pointed to the girl's pajamas, and then gestured to a wardrobe in the far corner of the room. "In there should be some gowns that would be appropriate for dinner."

Kendall blinked and stared at the wardrobe. "Gowns?" she repeated.

"Yes." Nora agreed. "You do know what they are, am I right?"

"Yeah, I know what they are." The older girl insisted. "But I've never had to wear one to dinner!"

"Have you ever had dinner with the King and Queen of Gondor?" she countered.

"No." Kendall admitted.

"Well, there you have it." Nora said with a clap of her hands. "Shall I help you pick one out?"

"Would you?" Kendall asked. "Ah, thanks. I don't know anything about dresses…"

"Well…" the dark-haired girl said thoughtfully as she strode over to the wardrobe and opened it. She shoved a few outfits out of her way as she looked, until she finally came upon one that made her smile. "This one should be perfect, I imagine."

"Which one?"

With a swish of fabric, Nora pulled out an emerald green dress that instantly reminded Kendall of what people wore to Ren Fest, or if they were performing Shakespeare. She wasn't quite sure what she thought of the gown, but she did know one thing: it must have been very expensive.

"Are you sure the Queen won't mind?" Kendall asked, gently taking the dress into her own arms.

Nora shrugged. "Why should she? She had these dresses put here for visitors to wear if they had none of their own, or didn't bring something fancy enough. Arwen would most likely be pleased to see you in it. Besides, it really matches your eyes."

Kendall blushed slightly. "You think so?"

"Of course." Nora said with a roll of her eyes. "Now hurry up and change, and I'll take you to the dining hall."

"Hey, Nora?" the red-haired girl asked, calling the girl back inside the room before she could leave.

"Hey what?"

"Do…Do you think that one of them – the King, or Queen, or maybe even Legolas – might know what I'm doing here?"

Nora shrugged again. "Perhaps. Queen Arwen is an Elf, and it has been rumored that she – as with her son – have the gift of Sight. They might know something, though I cannot guarantee what. Now hurry up and change, my stomach is growling!"

Kendall was feeling very nervous as she neared the dining hall with Nora at her side. She had only met Arwen briefly before Nora took her away to her rooms, and she had yet to meet Eldarion. They both sounded nice, but people usually always spoke highly of their monarchs, so she didn't know what to think. Besides the fact that she felt very self-conscious in the gown, and she was sure she was going to make some sort of etiquette mistake that would offend the Queen and her son.

"Oh, calm down!" Nora insisted for the one thousandth time. "Neither of them are going to bite your head off if you do something wrong. They both know that you have just arrived here, and they do not expect you to know our customs."

"You promise?" Kendall begged.

"Cross my heart." She insisted. "I grew up here in the Citadel. I think I should know how my foster parents behave."

Kendall gaped at her. "They were your…what?"

"Foster parents." Nora repeated.

"You mean, you…wow." She said, blushing somewhat at her lack of words.

The younger girl rolled her eyes. "Yes. I arrived in Gondor when I was young, supposedly, brought to the King and Queen themselves by some stranger. As soon as I was in their hands, they left. I was two at the time, or so I was told. But I do not remember. I cannot remember much before my fourth birthday."

"Why no-?" Kendall started to ask, but Nora cut her off.

"We're here!" she hissed, pointing at the doors in front of them. "We can continue this later!"

One of the guards standing in front of the doors saw the girls as they approached and quickly opened a door and announced them to the King and Queen inside. "The Lady Elynora, and her friend, the Lady Kendall."

As soon as the soldier stepped back into his position, the two girls walked in. Kendall was surprised to see everyone else inside standing up at the table, waiting for them to sit down. And since when had she been a Lady? She and Nora sat down, and the rest of the people eating joined them. Soon after, food was brought out, and the talking began.

"Kendall," Nora said, tapping her friend gently on the arm to get her attention. "This is the Queen Arwen and her son, King Eldarion of Gondor."

Kendall inclined her head to the King, who was at the head of the table, and his mother, who was seated at his right. They replied the gesture, and the Queen opened her mouth to speak.

"I am sorry I did not get to speak to you when we first met earlier, Lady Kendall." Arwen said in an apologetic tone. "But I had a desperate subject I needed to talk about to Prince Legolas." At the mention of the blonde Elf, she nodded her head in his direction, and Kendall followed to see that Legolas was seated opposite her. For some reason, she didn't notice him when she had first arrived. As if in apology, she nodded to him, and he smiled and nodded back.

"It's quite alright, Your Highness." Kendall insisted. "I would never expect a Queen to talk to me, so I am a little surprised.

"But you are our guest." Eldarion insisted. "Why would we not talk to you? That would be very impolite."

"Since when are you polite, Dari?" Nora muttered, grinning. Eldarion made a face as he slid slightly in his chair, and suddenly, the girl let out a yelp and sat up straight, glaring at the Man.

"Honestly, Eldarion…" Arwen scolded lightly.

Smirking, the King turned to his mother. "Honestly what, mother?"

"Stop picking on Nora." The Queen elaborated.

"She started it." Eldarion countered.

"You are nearly eighty years old, Eldarion." Arwen said sternly. "If you do not start acting your age, I think I will begin to consider putting one of your sisters on the throne instead."

At this threat, the King immediately sobered up.

"That didn't take much." Nora whispered to Kendall, who nodded.

"Please, forgive my son." Arwen insisted. "He can be a bit immature at times, despite his age."

"That's okay." Kendall assured her. "It was amusing."

"I hope that my son will be able to do more than amuse his dinner guests while he is king."

"Oh, I shall, Mother." Eldarion promised. "I am only just getting into my role. I need some time to adjust. Don't you worry, Gondor will do fine under my command."

"And here comes the Apocalypse." Nora muttered under her breath.

"I promise you, Kendall," Legolas said suddenly. "Dinner here in the Citadel is not always this interesting. You must come here to eat more often."

Eldarion glared at the Elf, who merely arched an eyebrow in his direction. Arwen rolled her eyes. "Stop teasing him, Legolas. You are embarrassing him in front of all the other Lords and Ladies."

"And you are not, Mother?" Eldarion pressed.

"I am surprised you two haven't scared Kendall away." Nora said. "She probably has a lot of questions to ask, and here you three are, bickering amongst yourselves…"

"Apologies, Lady Kendall." Arwen said with a smile. "Do you have any questions? If you do, please feel free to ask, and we shall answer them the best we can."

"What am I doing here?" Kendall asked without a moment's hesitation. "That is the one thing I want to know above everything else."

The table was silent, save for the soft chatter of a few of the Lords and Ladies at the other end of the table. Eldarion and Arwen seemed to be pondering the question, or thinking of the best way to answer it. Legolas was merely watching his friends as he ate the salad in front of him.

"That is a difficult question to answer." Eldarion said after a moment.

"Though not an impossible one." Arwen promised.

"You do indeed have a purpose here." The King said. "Though I do not know clearly what it is yet. But I remember seeing you in a dream…"

"I too have seen you with the Sight, Lady Kendall." The raven-haired Elf agreed. "I saw you with three other people…and a boat."

"But what you were saying," Eldarion said.

"Or what you were doing," Arwen continued.

"We do not know." They finished in unison.

Nora grinned. "They tend to do that a lot, just so you know."

"What?" Kendall asked. "Talk about seeing people, or finish sentences together?"

"The latter." Nora said with a nod.

"That is all we know." Arwen said gently.

"Wait, mother." Eldarion insisted. "I know something else." The four others looked at him, waiting patiently for him to continue. "Whatever she was doing with those people and that boat, it was important. Very much so. She is destined to do much here in Gondor. How much, I cannot tell. But her coming to us is like the first pebble that falls at the start of an avalanche."

Yay! I finally updated! After how long…? Nearly a year? Dang! Hey, but this one is sorta long, and Eldarion and Arwen just gave out some clues as to what Kendall's gonna be up to later on…I wonder if anyone can figure it out? Prolly not, since no one ever seems to REVIEW! I mean, come on, I check my stats and I see that I get all these hits, and like, 2 reviews per chapter. If you are reading this, PLEASE leave a review. Even if you don't wanna sign in, just drop an anon. one, okay? I would really appriciate it. It would make me want to write more…If I can, with my busy schedual…as it is, It's eleven o'clock, and I must get up in less than seven hours….sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…so please, when I post this chapter, and you read it, make sure you review. If you're an author, I know you appriciate getting reviews, and how it feels when you don't get any at all for your work. So please, all I'm asking you readers out there is to take a little bit more of your time and drop me a review. Even if all you say is, "hey, read your chapter.", I'll still be happy. Seriously. All I want to know is that people are actually reading my story. Because if they're not, I might as well just take it down…

And so, to end a really long author's note:

REVIEW!