Chapter Nine—An EVIIILLL Plan
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IrethIt's difficult to explain my anguish at being removed from the celebrations of the Seasons Festival. I felt that Thranduil had unduly punished Legolas and I, but, really, there was nothing to be done for it. We were both doomed to misery and we knew it…but we were not resolved to it. After walking out from the study, I was hard put to stop my threatening tears. I looked over at Legolas who seemed ready to weep as well, and watched as he simply plopped down on his knees in the middle of the marble floor with a sound like a wounded dog. "MISERY, THY NAME IS LEGOLAS!" he wailed, obviously not worried about his dignity at the present.
"There's nothing we can do, Legolas."
He lowered his head to the floor with a thud. It suddenly came rocketing back up and he quickly snatched my hand, dragging me in some odd direction. "Come, let us talk elsewhere."
It didn't look like I had much of a choice.
The most secluded part of the kingdom is the dungeons, but neither of us dared go down there. Instead, Legolas hurried to the east gardens, his swift feet making little sound on the hard floor. We reached the gate that led outside and rushed through, ignoring the guards presently stationed there, and rushed past one of the many white fountains heading towards the outer boundaries of the gardens. There were other elves present, but they were much involved in their own conversations and didn't even heed us small elflings that flew by. We finally came to a small clearing that all of us, Legolas, Alasse, Elros, and myself, liked immensely. Hardly anyone came there, and there was a small stream that gurgled straight through the middle; perfect for washing one's feet or just listening to its quiet gurgles.
Together, we sat beside the stream and Legolas began to talk all at once, spewing out a plan that he had to get into the festival without his father's approval. I lowered my eyebrows and said very resolutely, "We can't do anything, Legolas. Your father has made that quite clear."
"Nay, Ireth. We can do something; all you must do is listen to me."
"No. I refuse."
"You're just scared."
"Dead right, I am! Are you even thinking about what you're saying! If we ever got caught—in whatever you are talking about—we might as well just hand ourselves over to Morgoth, because we're both as good as dead!"
"That's why we shall not allow ourselves to be caught," said Legolas, looking very stupid in his self-confidence.
"Legolas…"I narrowed my eyes, and gave him the look I only bestowed on people I was sure were part orc in some way, "Listen to me: We…will…be…killed. He will find out. He ALWAYS does."
"Not this time."
More stupid self-confidence.
"I can't believe this," I groaned, settling my face in my hands, "You're mad, a complete and utter fool. There is no way we could possibly escape with anything under your father's nose. We've already been punished ruthlessly; do you really wish to make it worse?"
"No," Legolas stated simply, "I just wish to attend the festival."
I exploded in furious anger. "How! It's not like as though we can just inconspicuously slip into the middle of a throng of palace-dwellers, being merry, and expect to not be observed."
Legolas grinned, a very EVIIIILLLL grin, to reveal snake-like pointed teeth. I could have sworn horns were sprouting from his scalp. "So…we just don't go to the palace…"
"What?" I didn't understand at all. We always went to the celebration at the palace, the only other place to go was…
"No." I scooted back on my hands away from the—what I now knew to be—an utterly insane elf.
"Come on, Ireth. The outskirts are perfectly safe. I know that's where all the palace staff and Guard go. They always come back happy as full forest spiders."
"That's because they're as drunk as a naugrim in a drinking game!"
"Precisely," Legolas stated, with a bad twinkle in his eye.
That was all I needed to know. Legolas wanted to go to the Seasons Festival and while there he wanted to drink so much wine he exploded. But, it was true; somehow this offer was enticing. I'd never be gone to the Seasons Festival on the outskirts. I'd heard rumors though; elves dancing about in the moonlight, drinking to their hearts' delight, and playing this game where ellons chased elleth through the woods, and whichever elleth they caught they went dancing with…or more, if the elleth allowed. I had no wish to really see any of that merry-making, but…the festival itself sounded enjoyable. It would be outside, whereas the Festival at the palace was indoors.
Oh, Elbereth, help me!
Legolas saw my hesitance and attacked with even more gusto. "There is also food as grand as that in the palace, spread on tables piled high. Also…"he snickered here mischievously, "I hear that is where Valandil attends the festival."
I felt myself blanch, and I glowered at Legolas dangerously. "What does that have to do with anything? I bet you only want to go to the festival to see a certain Larien…" I smiled at my comeback; very pleased to see Legolas turn a lovely hue of pink. "I've no time for girls, Ireth," he said quietly.
"Of course, of course," I said, but inside I was thinking about Valandil, that gorgeous brown-haired, green-eyed god of a… 'STOP, IRETH! No more!'
But I could resist no more. "Alright," I said reluctantly, "I will go along with this plan. You had just better make sure that it is not penetrable in any way, shape, or form."
"There shall be no problem, Lady Ireth," he said haughtily. "I always succeed in all of my glorious devices."
I tried very hard not to think of several instances before where he had most definitely not succeeded.
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A/N: Again, quite short. But I've been really pushing myself on these chapters, and this was the best I could come up with in the span of about forty-five minutes. High School cuts into EVERYTHING. Grr.
