Chapter 7
February, Third Age 2968, Halls of King Thranduil
Most days, Emily could tolerate her living arrangements. She was used to living in close proximity to her parents and her siblings back on Earth. Well, that is until her siblings had moved out, gone to university, gotten jobs and apartments, lived adult life, stuff like that, everything she would be doing this year, had she lived the life she expected to. Yes, now that she was another year older, she was beginning to feel more confined and cheated at the experiences she somewhat lost out on.
This was something she was struggling with increasingly. Her parents seemed to be trying perhaps too hard to atone for their past inattentiveness to her and make up for time lost. While meaningful and appreciated, Emily was finding it to be a bit much. This was especially when they would periodically flip back to their old ways or fuss over her with endless questions, give orders and treat her like she was ten. She was definitely not ten. In fact the past year had made her grow up so fast that she hardly recognized herself.
Her birthday had been a quiet affair, Emily reminded herself. That, at least had gone as she wished. At her request, her family had discreetly celebrated her eighteenth birthday on January 3rd. For whatever reason, Emily hadn't wanted to make a big thing of it and she'd been adamant that it be kept quiet. As it was her birthday, therefore her prerogative, and elves tended only to make a huge celebration of the years ending in zero she got her wish. They had a quiet family dinner in the royal wings, a few gifts and no one was the wiser. She had even kept it quiet from Merenith and the Dull Ones, knowing them well enough to know they would want to have a party of their own with her and she frankly just didn't want to.
Why? Emily couldn't really say. Maybe she hated people remembering how young she was by comparison to everyone else. Or possibly she had wanted to have a special evening with just her immediate family. Both were likely to be true.
Whatever the reason, the whole night was beautiful. Just her grandparents, uncles, siblings, parents and her, no one else. No formal wear, no grand entrances, no late night singing and dancing or public eyes upon them. They talked, ate and enjoyed the time as a family. In Cellissel's case, Emily was doubly glad of her insistence at a quiet dinner because she had a feeling her Grandmother was as happy with the arrangement as she was.
Smiling, her irritation at her parents momentarily forgotten, Emily recalled how happy Cellissel had looked that night and the way she and Thranduil had interacted...Emily loved it. The whole night was like watching a Romantic Comedy unfold between two of her favorite people. Truly, seeing Cellissel fall back in love with Thranduil was a privilege to see. It was all in the little things, the flash of a smile here and the touch of a hand there, a bright joke and courteous gesture on the part of her Grandfather. The way he doted over Cellissel and treated her like she were his sun and moon made Emily melt inside.
The time with her uncles had been enjoyable as well. She'd been pleasantly surprised and equally shocked when the gift she received from Joel and Faervel turned out to be a proper snowboard. After all, Faervel had been the one to put an end to her and Merenith's attempt at making a snowboard last month and was the last person in the world she would have guessed would make her a properly functioning one. Her Vede Faervel seemed to take great enjoyment in her disbelief, although he did very seriously tell her she wasn't to go out and use it unless she took him with her. He claimed that he wanted to ensure it worked properly, but Emily rather suspected he was being his usual overprotective self.
Being reminded of overprotective people brought Emily back to her previous irritation at her parents. They meant well, of that she had no doubt, but they really didn't seem to know how to go about approaching sensitive topics with her.
Always, always it ended with her annoyed and defensive and them throwing their hands up in frustration. Today it was her father telling her he thought she should go see a mind healer again since she wasn't sleeping well and obviously that would just fix it all. Emily, being the proud and stubborn girl that she was, didn't take it well and her mother had gotten involved.
Honestly, if he had just asked if she had thought of going to see them, she might have just let it go and seriously considered it, but today he went all 'negotiator' with her, which coming from a complete stranger might have worked. This was her father, however, and she never reacted well when he tried to 'handle' her like he would a subject in a crisis. But that was an issue for another time. Right now...she just wanted to eat and be with friends.
"You look so happy!" Merenith said with bright sarcasm when Emliy approached their table in the great hall. "Who stole your rainbow today?"
"You are so lucky you don't live with your parents." Emily groaned as she plopped down into her seat next to Merenith. She put her chin in her hand and happened to look up at Sidhel right after the words left her mouth. Instantly she was horrified at how insensitive they were, given that his entire family had either sailed or died. The mortification must have shown, because Sidhel laughed and passed her the water jug without a hint of hurt or judgment in his eyes, making her feel better.
"I do live with my parents." Merenith grumbled as she stabbed at her salad.
"We don't." Tirnel laughed. "It's glorious."
"My parents were happy to see me out of the house." Rusgon sighed in mock sadness. "Something about stirring up too much trouble with my sisters or something like that."
"I wouldn't mind living with mine." Gurador commented, only half interested as he ate his soup and scribbled in his notebook. "But they thought it would be good for me to live with people my own age and get out more."
"I just wish nana and ada would let me live outside like you all do in the warm months, at least!" Merenith whined. "But they say it's too dangerous for an elleth to be living on her own...whatever that means...such an old fashioned rule…"
"We offered to build you a room in our tree, Mer." Rusgon reminded her deviously, fully knowing how she would react.
She kicked at him under the table. "I don't WANT to live with STINKY BOYS! Least of all YOU!"
Rusgon clutched his heart dramatically. "Ahhhh….you wound me terribly, my lady...what have I ever done to deserve such ire from you?"
"Oh just let me count the ways…" Merenith growled.
Emily shook her head, helping herself to some salad and warm soup. Sometimes she believed that Merenith enjoyed being irritated by Rusgon and that it was all an act to hide her true feelings for the ellon. She could never prove it though.
"Why don't you and Emily live together?" Sidhel suggested suddenly. Both girls stopped eating and stared at him dumbly so he continued. "You have complained more than once about living with your parents, Merenith, and Emily, you said just the other day that you would be living on your own or with friends already if you had been living on Earth and gone off to University. Why not live together?"
"That might work," Tirnel tugged at his ear thoughtfully. "There is an old, broken down home neighbouring ours that the King might give you leave to fix up and live in...and nana and ada would likely be happier knowing you were living close by me, Mer…"
"Em?" Merenith's eyes were shining with the possibilities as she clasped her hands together. "What do you think? Would your parents let you? Would the King?"
"You know what...I think they might…" Emily breathed, visions of the future rising in her mind blissfully.
"WE NEED TO ASK THEM RIGHT NOW!" Merenith exploded, leaping from the table and dragging Emily with her.
"HEY! I'm still eating!" Emily protested, grabbing frantically at a dinner roll as she was hauled backwards. Her fingers closed around it, barely.
"Eat later!" Merenith sang. "Our future awaits! Wish us luck!"
As the girls took off, Gurador, Rusgon and Tirnel turned to Sidhel who was gazing after Emily with a fond smile hovering on his lips and a far off look in his eye.
Tirnel cleared his throat and Sidhel snapped back to himself.
"What?" He asked, hurrying to take a drink of water innocently.
"Playing the knight in shining armour, are we?" Rusgon teased, elbowing him sharply. "Scheming ways to be closer to your dear lady...perhaps you can walk to the training grounds together...since you changed your time slot to match hers…or perhaps she will ask to borrow a cup of sugar!"
"I didn't change my training time to match hers. It just happened that way." Sidhel splashed the remainder of his water at Rusgon before he refilled the glass. "And I merely suggested they live together, it was Tirnel who mentioned the tree near ours."
"Oh yes," Tirnel rolled his eyes. "As if there were any other place to suggest."
Sidhel folded his hands comfortably around his cup and shrugged. "They might have wanted to pick their own tree and location. It would have taken a little longer to construct, but they could have done it."
"You also know my parents would never agree to Merenith being off on her own without myself or one of my siblings keeping half an eye on her at this point. You know how they are about her." Tirnel pressed.
"Perhaps you are wrong about your parents. Merenith has grown up considerably in the last six months."
"Sidhel, just admit how lovesick you are."
"I am not lovesick." Sidhel protested half heartedly. "I'm just being a good friend and presenting a viable solution to a problem. Emily has been frustrated by not having the independence she craves and so has Merenith. It seemed a logical thing to suggest."
The other three hummed unconvinced.
Rusgon bounced in his seat. "This is going to be great though...imagine how much more irritating I can be with Merenith living so close by?"
Gurador snapped his notebook shut with a snort and set his ink pen down delicately. "You tease Sidhel about Emily, and yet you manage to avoid teasing of your own, Rusgon...you may yet win the affections of the one you seek if you did not antagonize her so often."
Sidhel and Tirnel turned on Rusgon, Sidhel with eyebrows raised and Tirnel looking slightly confused.
"He does have a point." Sidhel smiled when Rusgon went a light shade of pink. It clashed with his hair.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Rusgon began, struggling to flash a disarming smile.
Tirnel narrowed his eyes. "Is THAT why you always bother her?"
Gurador and Sidhel looked at Tirnel in disbelief.
"How have you not figured that one out?" Sidhel laughed. "He's liked her since we were children!"
"Yes, it has been a textbook 'young male trying to get the attention of a young female'." Said Gurador.
Tirnel stared at Rusgon, who had the good sense to fidget under the scrutiny of a protective big brother. "You like my sister!?"
"Ordinarily, I would make a joke and lie…" Rusgon sighed, defeated. "But, I would not do her the disservice. Yes. I do...perhaps more than just like her."
"Then why do you bother her?!" Tirnel exclaimed. "As much as we tease that you are impossible, Rusgon, I would gladly give my blessing for you to court her-"
"Wowowow…" Rusgon held up his hands. "I am NOT ready for courtship and I'll wager she isn't either. For now, I'll just make sure each and every day she knows I exist. Besides, she may never feel the same as I."
"Have you…felt the mate-bond calling?" Gurador asked, curiously. "We are still yet young, but it's not unheard of for it to be felt early on by a few."
Rusgon grew uncharacteristically quiet and smiled a little as he stared at the table. "Yes. I've always known. And if she does not choose to heed the call that would draw her to me in return, I will let her go where she is happy...but I will always love her and there will be no other for me as long as I live."
The four friends sat in silence, food forgotten as they pondered the heaviness of what Rusgon's words implied.
It grew uncomfortable.
Suddenly Tirnel hooked an arm around Rusgon's neck and shoulders, pushed his fist into his crown and started rubbing while saying, "Awwww, we have another sappy romantic type in the group...you're so cute! Should we braid daisy chains? You and Sidhel can exchange notes on how to woo females!"
"Get off!" Rusgon shoved and squirmed under the strength of the bigger ellon. "I won't take advice from Mr. Sensitive over there. He'd cramp my style!"
"Looks like it's just you and me now, Gurador." Tirnel laughed merrily, letting Rusgon go and holding his glass out to the gangly elf sitting across from him. "Unless you have your eye on an elleth and haven't told us?"
"No. There is no one that I know of." Guradro said placidly. "I am not sure I would know how to speak to a female anyway."
"You talk to Emily and Merenith all the time…" Sidhel reminded him, amused.
"That is different. They aren't scary." Gurador muttered, opening his book and indicating he was finished with this conversation. It did little to stop the torrent of good natured teasing from his friends.
Elsewhere, Emily and Merenith presented their proposal to their parents. Merenith's were receptive and intrigued by the idea, so long as they got Thranduil's blessing on the matter. Emily's parents were...contradictory, as usual, until Aewnith finally came round and started to take Emily's side of the discussion. In the end, the decision was left up to the discretion of Thranduil and later Aewnith privately called Farland out on his reluctance being based in fear.
To say Emily wasn't irritable by the time they got as far as her grandfathers' study would be an understatement. She couldn't stand the fact that her parents were digging their heels in, most of all her dad. She was old enough to be living on her own, for goodness sake. She shouldn't NEED their approval or permission. If this had been Earth…she would have been old enough to vote and would be considered an adult (In Canada at least).
Moving just ahead of Merenith, Emily reached the door to the grand study first. She threw open the door without thinking and stomped in a few steps. Faervel, Legolas and Thranduil all turned to look at her with raised eyebrows, clearly having been in the middle of a serious discussion with a handful of the Kings' advisors.
Face heating and mortified beyond belief, Emily turned instantly before the door she'd thrown open even finished closing and walked out again without saying a word.
Merenith was waiting neatly in the wall by the doors, hands folded in front of her comfortably.
"Have I mentioned that you should never go into the Kings' study without knocking first or asking a guard if it's safe?" Merenith asked mildly.
Emily walked past her, then came back, and then made to leave again. The guards, who had not stopped her, looked as if they were enjoying the joke.
"Oh, relax, Emily. I burst in on an incredibly important meeting once and no one paid it any mind."
"That was beyond humiliating." Emily moaned, pacing back and forth in front of Merenith and putting her hands over her eyes.
"You think that was humiliating? Just be glad you didn't burst in on the King AND the Queen getting...acquainted." Merenith whispered seriously.
"OH My GOSH MERENITH!" Emily exclaimed, then lowered her voice to a hiss, "What is WRONG with you?! Why on earth would you put that in my head?!"
"Because that would be significantly worse, in my opinion. Did I ever tell you about the time I walked in on my parents…?"
"No?"
"Exactly. I've blocked it out of my mind and will never even acknowledge that I was scarred for life."
Just then the doors to the study opened and the advisors filed out. Emily recognized a few as being ones that Merenith had warned were not as 'happy go lucky or forgiving' as the others. Her heart sank and she dropped her gaze, waiting meekly as they passed. The last thing she needed was the advisors thinking ill of her.
Merenith just smiled and waved.
Legolas and Faervel brought up the rear. They lingered by the girls, Legolas clearly finding the situation amusing and Faervel looking mildly confused.
"Do you often make a habit of entering people's study's without knocking?" The elder prince asked her. Emily hung her head further.
"No. I just...forgot." Emliy mumbled. "I'm having a day…"
"Do not torment her, Faervel." Legolas laughed, reaching out to playfully tug her hair. "She is embarrassed enough. I, for one, was grateful for the intrusion. That debate was getting dull, to say the least."
Faervel hummed, studying his niece with a small frown before letting a smirk that he clearly inherited from his father slip onto his face. "It was a welcome interruption, I will grant you that."
Emily peeked up, face still burning.
"We were bid to send you in next, Emily." Legolas told her, face still filled with mirth.
"Ok. Thank you." Emily said quietly. "Merenith. You go first. Let me know if it's safe."
"What? Why are you throwing me to the wolves?!"
"Yes."
"Ok!"
Merenith waltzed off and threw open the door with a loud exclamation of, "Odhron! How are you on this fine day?"
Faervel and Legolas shook their heads and each gave Emily a little squeeze on her shoulders as they continued on their way. Emily walked humbly back into the study, still feeling extremely sheepish. Thranduil greeted her with a cool and amused raise of his brow as Merenith bounced across his study and flopped uninvited into one of the chairs by the fireplace.
"I am well, Merenith, make yourself at home." He said lazily as he flicked a page he had been reading down on his desk and moved to pour a drink. Emily wondered briefly if he always did that after a meeting, or if Merenith and her gave him the urge to have a drink. This wasn't the first time she'd noticed it. "Emily, you seemed frustrated earlier. What can I do for you both?"
"We want to live outside, like the Dule Ones." Merenith announced, laying the wrong way in her chair and twisting back so she was staring at the ceiling and her feet dangled.
"Oh? And what brought this on?"
"It was Sidhel's idea, actually." Merenith told him.
"Was it now." Thranduil arched his brow once more, his keen eyes taking note of the involuntary blush that rose in Emily's cheeks at the sound of the name. Fighting a smirk while remaining cool, not giving anything away. "And why would he suggest something like that?"
"Because Emily was complaining about living with her parents and we both were saying how we wished we could have some space from them, but my parents won't let me live alone." Merenith supplied, she flipped upright once more and smiled brightly at her Great Uncle. "My parents are on board now and so are Emily's, so long as you say it's ok! Tirnel even suggested that old abandoned place near his tree for us to fix up!"
Thranduil raised his hand, turning to Emily with mock surprise. "Emily is having trouble with her parents? This is news to me, of course."
"I just," Emily drew a breath, eyes pleading with him. "I just need some space. Something that I can call mine...sort of...I don't know."
"You are certain it is just your parents?" Thranduil teased, finally letting his smirk get the better of him as he idly swirled the contents of his cup. "Perhaps you have grown tired of the company of your poor grandfather and uncles as well?"
"What?! NO!" Emily scowled at him, realizing too late he was teasing. "You know that isn't it. I wouldn't be outdoors all the time. I just, correction, we just want more independence, like the guys."
"It really isn't fair they get to live in their own house and we can't." Merenith added seriously. "We aren't really any younger than they were when they moved in together."
"That is true." Thranduil conceded with a smile. "Very well. You have my blessing. You may begin preparing the abandoned home as you please and live there when the weather permits."
The girls each gave a tiny squeal and grabbed each other's hands a little, grinning triumphantly.
"Know this, Emily." Thranduil stopped them with a raised hand. "Your room here will always be your room and you will always be welcome...and Merenith, should your parents refuse to let you back after finally getting rid of you, I will find a room for you as well."
Merenith laughed, knowing she was being teased and bounced over to hug her Odhron. "Thank you! I always knew you loved me!"
Emily felt she should also give the elf a hug of gratitude and did so. Nine times out of ten she could always count on her grandfather to be understanding and fair.
"Thank you." She whispered.
Thranduil pressed a firm kiss into her crown by way of reply before he directed her and Merenith out.
"Off you you. Make plans, take notes and be SAFE. If you cause too much undue chaos with your newest venture I will put an end to it." Thranduil threatened only half seriously and then laughed when the girls gave sincere promises as they left in a happy flurry of excitement.
"Sidhel suggested it…I may have to have a talk with that boy." Thranduil said quietly to himself once they had left. At the thought a cool smirk rested on his lips as he turned back to the paperwork he was hurrying to finish before the evening. He had promised it to Cellissel and they had plans to go stargazing. King or no king, Thranduil had no intention of disappointing her.
AN: Hope you found some fun and enjoyment in this. It occurred to me how much it drove me nuts living with my own parents at eighteen and thought maybe some space for Merenith and Emily was due. Requests are always welcome, and reviews always make my day brighter :) A special thank you to all of you who are actively reading and reviewing. You help me stay motivated and it warms my heart to know that you are enjoying it! Thank you so much guys!