A/N: A late Merry Christmas, to all who celebrate it! =) I won't give
excuses this time about why I haven't updated, although I DID have final
exams, and I DID have the science fair (3rd place, go me), and I DID have a
bunch of homework in the last month. SORRY!
An Orli Update! He isn't going to talk, because he is currently unwrapping late Christmas presents... hehe! *watches as Orli throws crumpled up wrapping paper over shoulder*
Disclaimer: I own Fanya, Terra, Ana, Gerin, Juni, Michelle, Bethen, Freda, their mothers, A bunch of city guards, and probably a bunch of other stuff. The rest of it goes to my dog. Oh, I mean Tolkien.
Chapter 19: Delivering the Message
"Really? Really? REALLY?"
"Shhhh!"
"Oh..."
Fanya lay in her bed. Eyes closed, still contemplating whether or not she wanted to wake up or not. Finally opening her eyes, she was shown what she couldn't see last night in the dark.
After Ana had gone to bed, Fanya had sat in the kitchen for hours, watching the candles melt and not particularly doing or thinking anything. Just sitting in the kitchen.
But unfortunately...maybe fortunately, Legolas' face would appear in the small flame of the fire. And every time, she would shake her head, and resume staring at the candle.
There was a small wooden bed, which she was currently sitting on, in the corner of the room. It wasn't really comfortable, and was very stiff. The mattress didn't help much, it had lost most of it's comfort and was just there as a source of keeping body heat. To the right of the bed, stood a small wooden table, crafted in the same design. On the other side of the room was a large dresser with several drawers. The handles were chipped and worn. A light piece of cotton cloth was set on top for decoration, embroidered with faded, but colorful flowers.
Standing up, Fanya blinked the stars out of her eyes and walked to where a cracked mirror was hanging over the dresser. She bent down in front of her pack and took out her brush and some other, cleaner clothes.
She ran the brush through her hair a few times, and braided it, twisting it at the end for it to hold. She stripped off her travel worn clothes, spotting a few holes that she would have to sew, and tossed them onto her bed, for cleaning later on. She pulled on the green leggings, buttoned up the undershirt, and pulled a tunic over it. She had no dresses available, and she wasn't planning to buy any, any time soon.
She walked into the kitchen, where there was a jug of water, bread, some cheese, and a note waiting for her. She picked up the note and read what it said:
'Fanya-
I went to the market with Gerin to buy a few things. The bread and cheese is for you if you want it. I told Terra that you would go with her around the city, I'm sorry if she woke you up. Terra should be waiting in the bedroom; hopefully she'll behave for you. -Ana'
Ah. So that was the squeal that she heard. She grabbed the piece of bread and bit into it. It was slightly stale, but better than the food she had eaten traveling.
"FanyaFanyaFanyaFanyaFanyaFanya!" came a shriek from the other side of the room, and then something collided into her full-force, which caused her to fall to the ground. She cried out, feeling pain shoot through her starting at her hip, which hit the ground first.
"Terra, what's wrong?" she asked, rubbing her side as she stood up. 'just a bruise...' she thought, as she picked up Terra from the ground as well.
Terra's big blue eyes were wide and frightened and she stammered through her words, "Th-there's a- a- a- a m-monster in Gr-grandmother's b-b-bed room, Fanya... could- could you m-make it g-g-go away?" she huddled into Fanya's side, hiding her face.
"Of course, Terra, can you show me where it is?" she said sympathetically, remembering when she was small and used to go running to her mother to rid the house of monsters.
"O-over th-there..." Terra pointed to the corner of Ana's room. Then she backed up as far as she could against the opposite wall, breathing loudly.
Fanya walked to where she had pointed, and examined the floor, where a spider, about the size of a tarantula was. Fanya quickly stifled a laugh, glad that it wasn't as big as the LAST spider she had encountered. She picked it up with a book and walked over to the window of the bedroom and dumped it into the bushes, where it scurried off into shadow.
When she turned around, Terra was bright and sunshiny again, and bounced over to her, and tugged on her arm playfully. "Come on, Fanya, let's go!"
Fanya allowed herself to be dragged out of the house and over to Morion, who eyed Terra, before letting out a snort that said plainly 'fine, I'll let the little one ride me,'.
"Diolla lle, mellon," Fanya whispered into Morion's ears, as Terra bounced up and down looking at the horse with round, hopeful eyes.
Fanya lifted Terra up and sat her on the horse, then mounted her behind the small girl. "Hold on to Morion's mane, she won't mind." Fanya said, as Terra tensed in being on a horse without a saddle. Fanya led Morion into the town, smiling at people as they stared.
Terra, on the other hand was positively eating up all of the attention, as she waved to people she knew, flashed smiles in all directions, and giggled.
"Ooh! Fanya! Go over there! Make Morion go there!" she squealed, pointing to a group of girls all about the same age as her playing in a group, (all of whom turned and gaped at her on the horse)
"Michelle! Freda! Juni! Béthen!" she squealed again. Fanya scooped Terra off of the horse, and lowered her down onto the ground, where she hopped over to her friends. "Come meet my friend! She's an elf!" Terra said excitedly when she was standing in front of them.
"An elf!"
"Really?"
"With the pointy ears?"
"Yeah! She's got pointy ears!" Terra cried, leading them all over to Fanya, who was still on the horse. One of the girls was hanging back from them, and was eyeing the horse with fright. Fanya noticed this, and dismounted. Terra, and three of the girls were touching Morion in awe, stroking her legs, because the highest they could reach was only to the middle of her body.
"Come, little one. What is wrong?" Fanya said, kneeling before the girl. She had almond shaped soft brown eyes, and scraggly brown hair that was past her bottom.
"I don't like the horse, it's scary..." she mumbled.
"What is your name?" Fanya asked soothingly.
"Juni... short for Junith," she said, turning her scared eyes from the horse onto Fanya.
"Well, Juni. Would you like to ride Morion with me?"
"No!" cried the girl, jumping back in fright.
"Fanya!" Terra said. Fanya turned around, but did not leave Juni.
"Yes, Terra?"
"Could you let my friends ride Morion?" she asked, unsure of the answer.
"Of course," Fanya said smiling. "But first I would like to know your names."
"Michelle," spoke a curly blonde girl.
"Freda," said the brown haired girl to her left.
"Béthen" spoke a straight haired blonde to Terra's right.
"And I know you, Juni," said Fanya, taking Juni's small hand and bringing her forward, towards the group.
The girl shied away again from the horse, and Fanya let her retreat, knowing that Juni would probably overcome her fear when her friends pressured her into riding Morion, but that was her job. Fanya's job was to entertain these girls for a while.
"Who wants to ride Morion first?" Three high-pitched voices started shouting "Me! Me! Me!" all at once. Fanya decided she would have a little fun, and made a big performance of closing her eyes and spinning around, before stopping and pointing at a girl.
"Yay!" cried Béthen, who sprang forward and tried to scramble up Morion's back.
"Whoa, Béthen," said Fanya, not expecting this, "Let me lift you up."
"Now grip Morion's hair," Béthen did so, smiling wide, her eyes shining. Fanya gripped the girls forearm, and whispered commands to Morion in elvish, which startled Béthen. When the girl had been led up and down the street, Fanya noticed something. A group of women (all about Gerin's age) was standing watching them. To the side of the group was Ana, who was smiling at them. Fanya smiled back at her, and stopped Morion with a short whisper of "Tampa," and lifted Béthen down. The girl squealed, and rushed over to one of the women, who lifted her up and kissed her forehead. The woman was plainly her mother, as Béthen looked almost identical to her.
Fanya repeated the process a few times, and when Michelle, Freda, and Terra (who had begged for another ride) had ridden up and down the street a few times, Fanya turned to Juni and grinned.
"Now would you like to ride Morion?" she asked kindly.
"Um...um..." the girl stammered.
"I would ride with you, if you'd like," offered Fanya.
"Um..."
"Go on, Juni!" Michelle shouted from the other side of the road, where she was sitting on her mother's hip.
"It's fun!" Said Terra, who was with Ana and her mother.
"Um..." she stared at the ground. "It won't hurt, will it?"
"No, ella'er, it will do you no harm," Fanya said.
"What does that mean?" the girl said, amazed at the elvish.
"Ella'er means 'little one'." Fanya told her, taking one of her small hands in hers.
"All right..." she said softly enough for Fanya to hear her. "I'll ride...with you,"
Fanya beamed at the little girl's courage. To be so small, and to have the heart to brave something you fear was something that she'd never encountered before.
She lifted Juni up onto the front of Morion, as she had done with the previous four children, but instead of gripping their forearm and leading Morion around, she jumped up gracefully behind her. The small girl's body was stiff against Fanya. Plainly the girl was thinking twice about riding the horse, so Fanya took the moment to whisper elvish into her ear to calm her, as well as guiding Morion up and down the street. Soon, the girls body went limp, and Fanya worried if she had fainted from fright, but when she looked down at the child, she saw her eyes shut, and her breathing slowed to an even pace.
Fanya moved the horse over to the group of women with Ana and Gerin. The remaining woman without a child lifted her arms up to receive her child, and Fanya lifted the child down, but did not dismount.
The mothers were all looking up at her in awe. One spoke up. "You are so wonderful to let Michelle ride your horse. She loves horses so much, yet she is never allowed to play with the steeds of the army,"
"It is nothing, Morion does not mind," Fanya replied, rubbing Morion's back.
"How did you do that?" Juni's mother asked in awe, staring at Fanya.
"Do what?"
"Get Juni to approach, let alone ride a horse," she replied slowly.
"It was not my doing, she decided for herself," Fanya replied modestly.
"She is terrified of horses, though."
"I know not what convinced her to ride my horse," Fanya told her, then glanced up at the sky, where the sun was high above them.
"Ana, I must go, I have to deliver a message from my father." Fanya said, turning her attention to Ana.
"Very well. I suppose you'll be back for dinner?" she asked.
"I would think so."
"Can I come?" Piped up Terra.
"No, I'm afraid not, little one." I'll see you tonight." Fanya patted the head of the girl, then turned Morion with a gentle nudge of her ankles, and sped up, galloping through the town, Morion's hoof beats steady and loud against the stone road.
She was on the outermost circle of the city, and had to pass through six more. At each gate, similar events happened, in the same order. First, they would stop her and ask her name. Then she would tell it to them, and they would permit her through the gate, staring at her/her ears. At the sixth gate, she was so high up, that she could see all of Gondor's plains, along with Ithilien, which was situated on the river. With her elven sight, she could see guards walking up and down the streets of the city.
The guard stopped her. "My lady, what is your-"
"Fanya Helyan, daughter of Linque Helyan of Mirkwood." She answered before he could finish.
"What do you want with the steward?" he asked, staring at her, eyes resting on a place other than her eyes.
"I want to report a message from my father." She said uneasily.
"What is that message?" he asked, still not looking at her face.
"That," she whipped out a dagger, which had been placed in her boot and placed it to his neck, making sure he could feel the cold metal, "Is none of your business." She hissed at him. With the side of the dagger, she forced his chin up, so he was looking into her eyes. "And by the way, my face is here." she said, normally.
The guard nodded, and opened the gate for her. She gave a curt nod to his partner, who was staring at her as if she was an orc, and galloped into the top level of the city. A single white tree was standing in the middle of a courtyard of grass. It didn't look to healthy, and rather as if it was painted white. She met two more guards standing in front of the tree. They plainly did not know what happened at the last gate, and smiled at her as she trotted past on Morion.
She kicked Morion up the long flight of stairs. Each one, if you looked closely, had a symbol of a coat of arms cut into it. She supposed that it was the coat of arms of each separate king, though there were few through the course of history.
She dismounted quickly and opened the heavy stone door. It was as tall as the building itself, and was probably just as heavy. She struggled a bit, and managed to get the door open enough to squeeze herself in.
As she slipped in, she glimpsed a man with long graying hair, a sullen, almost bored look, before the door shut behind her with a loud rumble...
_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_
"Thank you, my lord Denethor," she said to the man. "I must take my leave, I have other duties here in the white city."
"Very well." He replied. "You may go." Fanya bowed slightly to him and turned. At the end of the hall was a man with chin length, dirty blonde hair. He had a rather large nose, and she knew him as Faramir; Boromir's brother. He was leaning casually against a post, and was glaring at his father, who had gone back to his sullen staring into space. Fanya bowed her head in acknowledgement to him, and he replied with a smile.
Again, she had trouble with the humongous stone door, although it was easier this time; all she had to do was push it open.
Morion was waiting patiently for her outside, although he had walked down the steps, and was eating up the grass surrounding the white tree. The guards were gazing at the horse with interest, although she was sure that her horse wasn't supposed to be doing that. She ran down to Morion, making no sound at all, and rubbed her nose, whispering a greeting to her. She nodded at the men, and mounted Morion. With a gentle nudge, Morion trotted to the gates.
The guard from earlier wasn't there this time, and she was permitted through the gates without a word.
As she was galloping through the town, she was thinking... she didn't exactly find it comfortable to be around humans all the time, even if she was half one herself. She thought it uncomfortable that she would have to stay here longer than she had to, and since she had done what she had come for, she saw no need to stay any longer.
Tomorrow, she would leave.
A/N: I hope you liked this, It was 8 ½ pages on word, and somewhere around 2600 words. Yeah. Orli is looking dead sexy in his new santa hat. ^^
Orli: *playing game cube*
Me: And he's playing MY game cube, eating MY chocolate cookies, and is wearing MY santa hat...although he does look damn good in it.
Orli: DARNIT I LOST!
Me: Awww! *walks over and gives hug*
Orli: *eye twitches* COOTIES!!!! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff!
Me: Well FINE.
Review Responses:
Feanen: Thank you! I hope you like this chappy too!
Areniel: Thanks! That was really nice of you to say, enjoy this one!
Digital-Tiffany: You know what, I'll make you a deal. I will send Orli to you after this story is done. Then I'm capturing somebody else! =D Thanks for the review!
Inweofnargothrond: Until a certain point in the story, I am alternating characters, last chapter was Legolas, this one was Fanya, next one is Legolas, etc. Thanks!
Mercuriall: Thank you!
Loveroflegolas: I'm glad to see you're reading my story! Thanks for dropping by!
Lydia A.: It's wonderful to see a new reviewer, I hope you keep reading the story, and enjoy this one!
Shivvers: I read your story, and it's great. Thanks for dropping by and reading this, and thanks for sending the review! ^^
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews... I'm honestly running out of things to say IN the responses! Lol. I'm loving all of the reviews! And all I can say is that my whole day gets so much better after I get a few reviews! *huggles everybody who reviews*
I have a few acknowledgements to make: First, my beta, now renamed The Lady Ellesar, keeps on posting chapters, and she wants reviews! She's a wonderful author, and if you just dropped a review saying that you were reading her story, would make more than one person happy! Second, my best friend has just entered the wonderful world of...no, not Disney, Fan Fiction, and she has a story posted, called Blue. Her penname is Elijah Orphen, and she is ecstatic about getting her first three reviews! Please read her story, and I'll reward you with another chapter!
And finally, I have a question and a request. Would you rather see a 365- day 'calender' of "How to tell you're obsessed with Lord of the Rings", an update of "LotR for Dummies", "Secrets", a new story of mine (very MS and AU) "Proven Wrong", another Hobbit Story, or something completely different? And my request is that when you review, you tell me something that you liked in the chapter, and not "I love your story"... although you have all of my permission to make me feel very guilty about not updating for a month.
Make a button happy, push the little purply blue button in the left corner. Make a person happy, type a nice comment in the pretty box!
~The Hobbit Ivy 12:37PM 12/27/03
An Orli Update! He isn't going to talk, because he is currently unwrapping late Christmas presents... hehe! *watches as Orli throws crumpled up wrapping paper over shoulder*
Disclaimer: I own Fanya, Terra, Ana, Gerin, Juni, Michelle, Bethen, Freda, their mothers, A bunch of city guards, and probably a bunch of other stuff. The rest of it goes to my dog. Oh, I mean Tolkien.
Chapter 19: Delivering the Message
"Really? Really? REALLY?"
"Shhhh!"
"Oh..."
Fanya lay in her bed. Eyes closed, still contemplating whether or not she wanted to wake up or not. Finally opening her eyes, she was shown what she couldn't see last night in the dark.
After Ana had gone to bed, Fanya had sat in the kitchen for hours, watching the candles melt and not particularly doing or thinking anything. Just sitting in the kitchen.
But unfortunately...maybe fortunately, Legolas' face would appear in the small flame of the fire. And every time, she would shake her head, and resume staring at the candle.
There was a small wooden bed, which she was currently sitting on, in the corner of the room. It wasn't really comfortable, and was very stiff. The mattress didn't help much, it had lost most of it's comfort and was just there as a source of keeping body heat. To the right of the bed, stood a small wooden table, crafted in the same design. On the other side of the room was a large dresser with several drawers. The handles were chipped and worn. A light piece of cotton cloth was set on top for decoration, embroidered with faded, but colorful flowers.
Standing up, Fanya blinked the stars out of her eyes and walked to where a cracked mirror was hanging over the dresser. She bent down in front of her pack and took out her brush and some other, cleaner clothes.
She ran the brush through her hair a few times, and braided it, twisting it at the end for it to hold. She stripped off her travel worn clothes, spotting a few holes that she would have to sew, and tossed them onto her bed, for cleaning later on. She pulled on the green leggings, buttoned up the undershirt, and pulled a tunic over it. She had no dresses available, and she wasn't planning to buy any, any time soon.
She walked into the kitchen, where there was a jug of water, bread, some cheese, and a note waiting for her. She picked up the note and read what it said:
'Fanya-
I went to the market with Gerin to buy a few things. The bread and cheese is for you if you want it. I told Terra that you would go with her around the city, I'm sorry if she woke you up. Terra should be waiting in the bedroom; hopefully she'll behave for you. -Ana'
Ah. So that was the squeal that she heard. She grabbed the piece of bread and bit into it. It was slightly stale, but better than the food she had eaten traveling.
"FanyaFanyaFanyaFanyaFanyaFanya!" came a shriek from the other side of the room, and then something collided into her full-force, which caused her to fall to the ground. She cried out, feeling pain shoot through her starting at her hip, which hit the ground first.
"Terra, what's wrong?" she asked, rubbing her side as she stood up. 'just a bruise...' she thought, as she picked up Terra from the ground as well.
Terra's big blue eyes were wide and frightened and she stammered through her words, "Th-there's a- a- a- a m-monster in Gr-grandmother's b-b-bed room, Fanya... could- could you m-make it g-g-go away?" she huddled into Fanya's side, hiding her face.
"Of course, Terra, can you show me where it is?" she said sympathetically, remembering when she was small and used to go running to her mother to rid the house of monsters.
"O-over th-there..." Terra pointed to the corner of Ana's room. Then she backed up as far as she could against the opposite wall, breathing loudly.
Fanya walked to where she had pointed, and examined the floor, where a spider, about the size of a tarantula was. Fanya quickly stifled a laugh, glad that it wasn't as big as the LAST spider she had encountered. She picked it up with a book and walked over to the window of the bedroom and dumped it into the bushes, where it scurried off into shadow.
When she turned around, Terra was bright and sunshiny again, and bounced over to her, and tugged on her arm playfully. "Come on, Fanya, let's go!"
Fanya allowed herself to be dragged out of the house and over to Morion, who eyed Terra, before letting out a snort that said plainly 'fine, I'll let the little one ride me,'.
"Diolla lle, mellon," Fanya whispered into Morion's ears, as Terra bounced up and down looking at the horse with round, hopeful eyes.
Fanya lifted Terra up and sat her on the horse, then mounted her behind the small girl. "Hold on to Morion's mane, she won't mind." Fanya said, as Terra tensed in being on a horse without a saddle. Fanya led Morion into the town, smiling at people as they stared.
Terra, on the other hand was positively eating up all of the attention, as she waved to people she knew, flashed smiles in all directions, and giggled.
"Ooh! Fanya! Go over there! Make Morion go there!" she squealed, pointing to a group of girls all about the same age as her playing in a group, (all of whom turned and gaped at her on the horse)
"Michelle! Freda! Juni! Béthen!" she squealed again. Fanya scooped Terra off of the horse, and lowered her down onto the ground, where she hopped over to her friends. "Come meet my friend! She's an elf!" Terra said excitedly when she was standing in front of them.
"An elf!"
"Really?"
"With the pointy ears?"
"Yeah! She's got pointy ears!" Terra cried, leading them all over to Fanya, who was still on the horse. One of the girls was hanging back from them, and was eyeing the horse with fright. Fanya noticed this, and dismounted. Terra, and three of the girls were touching Morion in awe, stroking her legs, because the highest they could reach was only to the middle of her body.
"Come, little one. What is wrong?" Fanya said, kneeling before the girl. She had almond shaped soft brown eyes, and scraggly brown hair that was past her bottom.
"I don't like the horse, it's scary..." she mumbled.
"What is your name?" Fanya asked soothingly.
"Juni... short for Junith," she said, turning her scared eyes from the horse onto Fanya.
"Well, Juni. Would you like to ride Morion with me?"
"No!" cried the girl, jumping back in fright.
"Fanya!" Terra said. Fanya turned around, but did not leave Juni.
"Yes, Terra?"
"Could you let my friends ride Morion?" she asked, unsure of the answer.
"Of course," Fanya said smiling. "But first I would like to know your names."
"Michelle," spoke a curly blonde girl.
"Freda," said the brown haired girl to her left.
"Béthen" spoke a straight haired blonde to Terra's right.
"And I know you, Juni," said Fanya, taking Juni's small hand and bringing her forward, towards the group.
The girl shied away again from the horse, and Fanya let her retreat, knowing that Juni would probably overcome her fear when her friends pressured her into riding Morion, but that was her job. Fanya's job was to entertain these girls for a while.
"Who wants to ride Morion first?" Three high-pitched voices started shouting "Me! Me! Me!" all at once. Fanya decided she would have a little fun, and made a big performance of closing her eyes and spinning around, before stopping and pointing at a girl.
"Yay!" cried Béthen, who sprang forward and tried to scramble up Morion's back.
"Whoa, Béthen," said Fanya, not expecting this, "Let me lift you up."
"Now grip Morion's hair," Béthen did so, smiling wide, her eyes shining. Fanya gripped the girls forearm, and whispered commands to Morion in elvish, which startled Béthen. When the girl had been led up and down the street, Fanya noticed something. A group of women (all about Gerin's age) was standing watching them. To the side of the group was Ana, who was smiling at them. Fanya smiled back at her, and stopped Morion with a short whisper of "Tampa," and lifted Béthen down. The girl squealed, and rushed over to one of the women, who lifted her up and kissed her forehead. The woman was plainly her mother, as Béthen looked almost identical to her.
Fanya repeated the process a few times, and when Michelle, Freda, and Terra (who had begged for another ride) had ridden up and down the street a few times, Fanya turned to Juni and grinned.
"Now would you like to ride Morion?" she asked kindly.
"Um...um..." the girl stammered.
"I would ride with you, if you'd like," offered Fanya.
"Um..."
"Go on, Juni!" Michelle shouted from the other side of the road, where she was sitting on her mother's hip.
"It's fun!" Said Terra, who was with Ana and her mother.
"Um..." she stared at the ground. "It won't hurt, will it?"
"No, ella'er, it will do you no harm," Fanya said.
"What does that mean?" the girl said, amazed at the elvish.
"Ella'er means 'little one'." Fanya told her, taking one of her small hands in hers.
"All right..." she said softly enough for Fanya to hear her. "I'll ride...with you,"
Fanya beamed at the little girl's courage. To be so small, and to have the heart to brave something you fear was something that she'd never encountered before.
She lifted Juni up onto the front of Morion, as she had done with the previous four children, but instead of gripping their forearm and leading Morion around, she jumped up gracefully behind her. The small girl's body was stiff against Fanya. Plainly the girl was thinking twice about riding the horse, so Fanya took the moment to whisper elvish into her ear to calm her, as well as guiding Morion up and down the street. Soon, the girls body went limp, and Fanya worried if she had fainted from fright, but when she looked down at the child, she saw her eyes shut, and her breathing slowed to an even pace.
Fanya moved the horse over to the group of women with Ana and Gerin. The remaining woman without a child lifted her arms up to receive her child, and Fanya lifted the child down, but did not dismount.
The mothers were all looking up at her in awe. One spoke up. "You are so wonderful to let Michelle ride your horse. She loves horses so much, yet she is never allowed to play with the steeds of the army,"
"It is nothing, Morion does not mind," Fanya replied, rubbing Morion's back.
"How did you do that?" Juni's mother asked in awe, staring at Fanya.
"Do what?"
"Get Juni to approach, let alone ride a horse," she replied slowly.
"It was not my doing, she decided for herself," Fanya replied modestly.
"She is terrified of horses, though."
"I know not what convinced her to ride my horse," Fanya told her, then glanced up at the sky, where the sun was high above them.
"Ana, I must go, I have to deliver a message from my father." Fanya said, turning her attention to Ana.
"Very well. I suppose you'll be back for dinner?" she asked.
"I would think so."
"Can I come?" Piped up Terra.
"No, I'm afraid not, little one." I'll see you tonight." Fanya patted the head of the girl, then turned Morion with a gentle nudge of her ankles, and sped up, galloping through the town, Morion's hoof beats steady and loud against the stone road.
She was on the outermost circle of the city, and had to pass through six more. At each gate, similar events happened, in the same order. First, they would stop her and ask her name. Then she would tell it to them, and they would permit her through the gate, staring at her/her ears. At the sixth gate, she was so high up, that she could see all of Gondor's plains, along with Ithilien, which was situated on the river. With her elven sight, she could see guards walking up and down the streets of the city.
The guard stopped her. "My lady, what is your-"
"Fanya Helyan, daughter of Linque Helyan of Mirkwood." She answered before he could finish.
"What do you want with the steward?" he asked, staring at her, eyes resting on a place other than her eyes.
"I want to report a message from my father." She said uneasily.
"What is that message?" he asked, still not looking at her face.
"That," she whipped out a dagger, which had been placed in her boot and placed it to his neck, making sure he could feel the cold metal, "Is none of your business." She hissed at him. With the side of the dagger, she forced his chin up, so he was looking into her eyes. "And by the way, my face is here." she said, normally.
The guard nodded, and opened the gate for her. She gave a curt nod to his partner, who was staring at her as if she was an orc, and galloped into the top level of the city. A single white tree was standing in the middle of a courtyard of grass. It didn't look to healthy, and rather as if it was painted white. She met two more guards standing in front of the tree. They plainly did not know what happened at the last gate, and smiled at her as she trotted past on Morion.
She kicked Morion up the long flight of stairs. Each one, if you looked closely, had a symbol of a coat of arms cut into it. She supposed that it was the coat of arms of each separate king, though there were few through the course of history.
She dismounted quickly and opened the heavy stone door. It was as tall as the building itself, and was probably just as heavy. She struggled a bit, and managed to get the door open enough to squeeze herself in.
As she slipped in, she glimpsed a man with long graying hair, a sullen, almost bored look, before the door shut behind her with a loud rumble...
_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_-~^*^~-_
"Thank you, my lord Denethor," she said to the man. "I must take my leave, I have other duties here in the white city."
"Very well." He replied. "You may go." Fanya bowed slightly to him and turned. At the end of the hall was a man with chin length, dirty blonde hair. He had a rather large nose, and she knew him as Faramir; Boromir's brother. He was leaning casually against a post, and was glaring at his father, who had gone back to his sullen staring into space. Fanya bowed her head in acknowledgement to him, and he replied with a smile.
Again, she had trouble with the humongous stone door, although it was easier this time; all she had to do was push it open.
Morion was waiting patiently for her outside, although he had walked down the steps, and was eating up the grass surrounding the white tree. The guards were gazing at the horse with interest, although she was sure that her horse wasn't supposed to be doing that. She ran down to Morion, making no sound at all, and rubbed her nose, whispering a greeting to her. She nodded at the men, and mounted Morion. With a gentle nudge, Morion trotted to the gates.
The guard from earlier wasn't there this time, and she was permitted through the gates without a word.
As she was galloping through the town, she was thinking... she didn't exactly find it comfortable to be around humans all the time, even if she was half one herself. She thought it uncomfortable that she would have to stay here longer than she had to, and since she had done what she had come for, she saw no need to stay any longer.
Tomorrow, she would leave.
A/N: I hope you liked this, It was 8 ½ pages on word, and somewhere around 2600 words. Yeah. Orli is looking dead sexy in his new santa hat. ^^
Orli: *playing game cube*
Me: And he's playing MY game cube, eating MY chocolate cookies, and is wearing MY santa hat...although he does look damn good in it.
Orli: DARNIT I LOST!
Me: Awww! *walks over and gives hug*
Orli: *eye twitches* COOTIES!!!! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff!
Me: Well FINE.
Review Responses:
Feanen: Thank you! I hope you like this chappy too!
Areniel: Thanks! That was really nice of you to say, enjoy this one!
Digital-Tiffany: You know what, I'll make you a deal. I will send Orli to you after this story is done. Then I'm capturing somebody else! =D Thanks for the review!
Inweofnargothrond: Until a certain point in the story, I am alternating characters, last chapter was Legolas, this one was Fanya, next one is Legolas, etc. Thanks!
Mercuriall: Thank you!
Loveroflegolas: I'm glad to see you're reading my story! Thanks for dropping by!
Lydia A.: It's wonderful to see a new reviewer, I hope you keep reading the story, and enjoy this one!
Shivvers: I read your story, and it's great. Thanks for dropping by and reading this, and thanks for sending the review! ^^
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews... I'm honestly running out of things to say IN the responses! Lol. I'm loving all of the reviews! And all I can say is that my whole day gets so much better after I get a few reviews! *huggles everybody who reviews*
I have a few acknowledgements to make: First, my beta, now renamed The Lady Ellesar, keeps on posting chapters, and she wants reviews! She's a wonderful author, and if you just dropped a review saying that you were reading her story, would make more than one person happy! Second, my best friend has just entered the wonderful world of...no, not Disney, Fan Fiction, and she has a story posted, called Blue. Her penname is Elijah Orphen, and she is ecstatic about getting her first three reviews! Please read her story, and I'll reward you with another chapter!
And finally, I have a question and a request. Would you rather see a 365- day 'calender' of "How to tell you're obsessed with Lord of the Rings", an update of "LotR for Dummies", "Secrets", a new story of mine (very MS and AU) "Proven Wrong", another Hobbit Story, or something completely different? And my request is that when you review, you tell me something that you liked in the chapter, and not "I love your story"... although you have all of my permission to make me feel very guilty about not updating for a month.
Make a button happy, push the little purply blue button in the left corner. Make a person happy, type a nice comment in the pretty box!
~The Hobbit Ivy 12:37PM 12/27/03
