A/N: Okay, I've had this chapter written for about a month,
but I keep wanted to edit it. I'm just going to give in and stop
working on this story for a while (probably a year) and I might
delete it and rewrite it. Most of my reviewers are gone
anyway.
Disclaimer
Elven Bunny: I don't own Lord of the
Rings. I do own this story, however, and most of the events mentioned
in it!
Elrond: You do, hmm? So it's you who's
responsible for my sons' actions?
Elven Bunny: -sweats-
Eh... up to a point...
Elrond: -evil gleam- So it's you
who should be punished for the cheese escapade? -advances-
Elven
Bunny: N-no! -runs away-
Elrond: -pursues-
Chapter ten
Selena and Raeann blinked, and were thrown back into their room in Mirkwood. Lothíriel and Lothwing's musical voices had woven through their minds, planting images of the kittens and the dogs, and making them almost believe that they were there.
"Very... interesting," said Raeann after a moment's pause. "So that's how the Tyuru Canad came into being."
Lothwing grinned and nodded. "Exactly. It took a long time to purify the smell of Elladan and Elrohir's rooms, but they got to keep the animals, so all's well that ends well."
"So. Now what?" asked Selena.
"You could tell us about yourselves," suggested Lothíriel.
"Okay," said Raeann hesitantly. "I'm sixteen years old, and I was born on June fourteenth. I met Selena three years ago. My life is otherwise uninteresting."
"My turn, then?" Selena frowned. "Umm, I'm also sixteen, but I'm four months younger then Raeann. I was born on September twenty-seventh. Nothing interesting has ever happened to me except this." She flicked her wrist, indicating the room around them.
"I see," said Lothwing. "Well, I'm forty-two years
old. I have two older sisters, Lothíriel, who's forty-nine,
and Lindënel, who's fifty-five. We lived in the Troll-shaws for
twelve years, and then our parents disappeared. They were probably
killed by the trolls, but we don't know.
"Lindënel cared
for us until we were in our twenties, then she disappeared. She got
lost in a heavy fog and wandered for years until she came to
Mirkwood, but we didn't know that. We thought she'd died. After that
happened, we lived by ourselves, until a wandering band of orcs came
into the 'Shaws. We had no idea how to use weapons- except for bow
and arrow, and we weren't too great at that- so we fled. We fell into
the Fords of Bruinen and floated down to Rivendell, where we met
Elladan and Elrohir."
"...And there's nothing left for me to say," added Lothíriel. "It's almost midnight. Tomorrow you'll need to get up at dawn, so that leaves you six hours of sleep."
Lothwing clapped a hand to her forehead. "Yes, we forgot to mention that to earn your keep you'll clean. We'll show you how to do it, so there'll be at least one of us around until you get used to it. It's not hard," she added, seeing the looks of dismay on the girls' faces.
"Well, then, I guess this is goodnight," said Selena. She stifled a yawn. "It's certainly about time for it. Crack of dawn... sheesh!"
"Goodnight," said Raeann, wriggled under the covers. Lothwing smiled and picked up the flickering candle. "We'll wake you tomorrow."
"Sleep well," said Lothíriel, and the sisters went out of the room.
Cream. Waves of cream, drowning her. Shifting pattern of light on the ocean floor. Flickering shadows, blue ripples, musical voices...
Selena pulled the covers off her head. Raeann was already awake and dressed, sporting a loose, long-sleeved lavender shirt and a white pair of "split skirt" pants that rippled around her legs.
Selena groaned and rolled out of bed- literally. "I am not a morning person," she grumbled. Lothwing and Lothíriel grinned at each other, and pressed a bundle of clothing into her hands. "We'll be waiting outside," they said in unison.
Raeann followed them in a foggy daze, and left Selena to herself.
Selena picked up the clothes and inspected them. It matched Raeann's, but her shirt was blue/green and the pants were black. She dressed quickly, lacing up the bizarre shirt as best she could. She tried to bring the picture of Raeann's shirt to mind, but only succeeded in thinking of an old picture that Raeann had once showed her. It showed a three-year-old Raeann, with a mop of wavy black curls, wearing a large camoflage shirt and her dad's army boots.
Selena shook her head, and was about to head out the door when she realized she had no shoes. She turned around and looked around. Bed... fireplace... closet... nightgown... shoes. She picked up the light grey boots, and winced. They were too small.
"Lothíriel?" she called, poking her head out the door. Lothíriel looked up from her embroidery. "What's wrong?"
"My boots are too small," said Selena, slightly embarrassed.
"Ah. Well, look in the closet," said Lothíriel, suppressing an un-elflike grin.
Selena did so, and emerged from the room a few seconds later.
"Are we ready?" asked Lothwing. "Let's go."
Lothíriel bounced up, dropping her basket of needlework. Raeann eyed her apprehensively. "It's dawn, how can you be so hyper?"
Lothíriel just smirked at her and grabbed Lothwing's hands. The two swung around in a crazy circle, somehow keeping ahead of Selena and Raeann to lead them.
"If we tried that, we'd crash into a wall and die," commented Selena. She glanced over at Raeann and shrugged.
Raeann tried to imprint the walk to breakfast in her mind for future referrence, but soon gave up. There were far too many side paths, houses, gardens, bushes and the like to remember anything clearly.
Lothíriel stopped spinning and turned down a side road. Lothwing didn't stop, and crashed into a tree. "Ouch," she said. "That hurt."
Lothíriel sniffed heartlessly and yanked her out of the tree. "Come on, we're almost there. This one, here."
Selena and Raeann followed the sisters into the structure. It was like a mesh of loosely woven trees, forming an almost-building. Inside were approximately twenty elves, mostly Lothwing and Lothíriel's ages. They were sitting cross-legged on the grass.
"Is this a sort of rester- tavern?" asked Raeann. They probably wouldn't understand the word "resteraunt", she thought.
"I suppose it is, of sorts," shrugged Lothíriel. She picked a seat near a circle of dark purple flowers. "It's certainly cleaner, though. Eh? What's up, Lothwing?"
Lothwing had frozen and was staring at something. Then, unexpectedly and suddenly, she zipped away.
"Lothy!"
" 'Ro 'Ro!"
Elrohir and Lothwing collided in a hug/tackle.
Raeann and Selena looked at each other and blinked.
"Err... didn't they see each other just yesterday!" asked Raeann, twitching slightly. Lothíriel yawned and nodded. "They're always like that. Everyone's used to it by now."
"Except us," muttered Selena. Lothwing and Elrohir linked arms and began to skip. Selena shook her head. "Okay. This is really weird. I just can't believe that two elves can be that goofy!"
"In The Hobbit the elves of Rivendell were rather silly," shrugged Raeann. "They sang silly songs to Bilbo and Co."
Selena made a face. "I'll bet Lothwing, Lothíriel and the twins were right up front, singing the loudest."
"What's that?" asked Lothíriel distractly, watching Elrohir attempt to wrestle back a sausage from Lothwing without much success.
"Nothing," said Raeann and Selena simultaneously. They looked at each other and giggled.
Lothíriel glanced at them, then her eyes flicked to someone coming in through the doorwar. She flushed slightly and pulled her thick wave of black hair behind her shoulder.
Elladan, Raeann mouthed in answer to Selena's confused face. Selena nodded understandingly and smirked as Elladan picked his way through the crowd, ending up next to Lothíriel.
The four watched as Lothwing and Elrohir tripped, broke the sausage in half, and ended up sitting (still with linked arms) on the ground. They each picked up a wineglass and held it out. A black-haired ellon smirked and filled the cups to the brim, watching as Lothwing and Elrohir clinked glasses and downed it in one gulp.
"Hey!" said Lothwing, "this isn't my cup. Give me that!"
They switched cups.
The ellon poured another cup for each of them. Elrohir took a bite out of his sausage and ignored his cup.
"Hurry up!" Lothwing complained. Elrohir complied, and they downed another glass.
"My arm hurts," Elrohir said.
They switched arms.
The ellon sighed, rolled his eyes, and gave them each another glass.
They nodded solemnly to each other, then shouted, "Cheers!" and drank.
"My sausage is gone," said Lothwing. "Luingon, can you hand me another?"
The ellon delicately picked up a sausage and handed it to her. She took a large bite as Luingon refilled the cups.
"Let's try this again," said Elrohir. "Cheers!"
"That's glass number five," whispered Selena to Raeann. "If they aren't careful, they're going to get..."
Elrohir and Lothwing grinned goofily at each other, and toppled over backward.
Raeann finished her sentance. "Drunk."
