Celebrian sat next to her father at the high table, watching the elves in the crowd below them swirl with colors, excitement, and fun. She rested her head on her hand and tried not to look too bored or miserable.
It was debatable how successful she was.
She had asked her father to let her stay in the room Oropher had given them to use for the duration of their stay and let her enjoy her own company and a good book, unsurprisingly he had disallowed it. A celebration like this was only fun when you had a group of friends to enjoy it with.
People to dance and laugh with.
Or at least, that's what she had gathered from her personal experience. She had yet to actually convince any group of young elves to allow her to join them for any celebration mischief, on account that all the youngs elves within Lothlorien were too terrified of her mother to allow Celebrian to join them.
She could not necessarily blame them for she certainly did not enjoy it whenever she gained her mother's wrath, but that did not mean she could not be a little bit bitter about it.
And bitter she was.
The only elf she knew enough to perhaps consider a friend here in Greenwood was Prince Thranduil, but she had not seen him since early the day before as he vanished into the treetops, face painted with a wicked grin with Orophers bellowing voice echoing after him.
Celebrian sighed, a bit louder than she intended to and her father pressed a sympathetic kiss to her temple, "A few more hours and we can return to our room and have a rematch of our game from this afternoon, hmm?"
She gave him the happiest smile she could muster, it wasn't her father's fault that there were certain expectations from visiting dignitaries, taking part in the celebrations being one of them, and she didn't want him to feel any guilt about it, "Alright Ada, that would be nice."
Celeborn turned back to his conversation with King Oropher and other important members of Greenwood's nation, and Celebrian turned back to watching the others have fun.
She wasn't sure how long she had stared into the crowd when she noticed several leaves drifting onto her head and empty plate from above. With a frown, she brushed them off her head and lap, assuming it was just from some elves scrambling around in nearby treetops.
Until a few berries landed on her head with suspicious precision, it was then that she glanced to the top of the reasonably sized rock shelf the high table had been placed in front of. Surprised to find Prince Thranduil crouched on top of it.
He held his finger to his lips to hush her before she could say a word, and Celebrian suddenly remembered that Oropher had apparently been attempting to track his son down for the better part of the entire day. Unsuccessfully.
She cocked her head to the side with a silent question. After a momentary glance at his father, Thranduil held his hands down to her from above, clearly meaning for her to reach up and grasp them.
She didn't waste a second.
Before either her father or King Oropher could notice, she stood on her chair and grasped his hands tightly. He pulled her up so swiftly it felt like she had taken spontaneous flight. So hard had he pulled that she didn't even need to clamber over the edge of the rock, she just shot up and over and into the waiting arms of Ferdan, Thranduil's best friend and eternal partner in mischief.
She faintly heard her father's uproarious laughter at her vanishing act, soon followed by Oropher exclaiming, "Eru help me, I don't know what I'm going to do with that boy!"
Snickering, Thranduil took her hands and led her away from the cliff's edge in a hurried crouch and into the crowd, vanishing before a few guards appeared where they had been standing before in a futile attempt to capture their prince and return him to his father.
With louder laughs and easy smiles, they continued their rushed tactical retreat.
They stopped once they reached a small cluster of elves lingering in the treeline that appeared to be waiting for them, and Celebrian's heart warmed a little at the thought of how pointedly Thranduil must have sought her out. Enough that his friends had waited for the rescue mission.
"Told you I could do it without getting caught," Thranduil grinned, easily catching a waterskin another tossed to him. He tore the cork out with his teeth and took a long drink, making a "Blah," sound after he swallowed.
He passed it to Ferdan who copied him, and then passed it to Celebrian.
She knew enough about Thranduil be know for certain it did not contain water, and reasonably certain it also wasn't wine, but some sort of horrible self-brewed substance much stronger than wine.
The assembled elves look to her expectantly, even as Thranduil said, "You don't have to drink any."
But this was the first time it seemed she would have the opportunity to enjoy a celebration to the fullest it had to offer, and so she took a deep breath and took a swig. The taste was an awful bitterness that she had never experienced before, and it made her face pucker and her throat almost close in rejection. But she forced herself and her body to swallow it down, and then nearly gagged.
"Open your mouth," Thranduil commanded and then tossed a few sweet berries in to chase the horrid aftertaste away, and then rubbed a soothing hand across her back as Celebrian continue to cough mildly, "Atta girl, now you're really one of us."
A few of his friends cheered or laughed, and Ferdan took the waterskin back.
Already she felt warmth travel through her veins like she had swallowed a tiny bit of fire, and her ears seemed like they nearly glowed with warmth. Coridually Thranduil held a hand out to her, "May I have this dance, Lady Celebrian?"
Around her, most of his friends had paired off to dance as well. She shook her head midly, "No, that's alright."
He seemed almost hurt, "Why not?"
She chewed on her bottom lip in nervousness, a habit her mother hated, "I don't know any of these dances. I'll look ridiculous."
"Well, there's only one way to learn. And if you think you look too ridiculous, I'll scream at the top of my lungs and then pull Ferdan's pants down. Nobody will remember how well you or badly you danced after that."
She laughed loudly, louder than she had in some time. Then she accepted his hand, "Alright, I'll give it a try."
