"First you must put your left foot here," Elrond instructed, pouring to the metal triangle hanging by the horse's side. Luriel listened closely. She was dressed in a traveling tunic, her white hair braided down her back. They were out in a spacious field. It had just rained so the ground was soft with mud, but that did not bother them.
"So I simply do this?" she asked as she reached up and grabbed the saddle, placing her left foot where she was instructed. She hoisted herself up onto the horse, but misjudged it slightly and found herself falling on the other side. She quickly recovered and stood back, turning to face a chuckling Elrond.
"I thought you said you had some experience with riding?" he asked.
"That was different, I rode an elk bareback, and that was based on trust not necessarily skill," she retorted, embarrassment giving her voice an edge.
Elrond noticed and immediately stopped chuckling. This time, she successfully mounted the horse and sat. She grabbed the reins, then looked at Elrond expectantly.
"Let us start slow, give the horses side a gentle nudge with your heel." he instructed taking a step back.
She did just that. The horse slowly walked forward, she turned back to Elrond, "This is a lot like the elk, but how to you get the horse to turn?" she asked.
"How did you do it with the elk?" he asked.
"Well I communicated with its mind," she said.
"That may work with an elk, but a horse is a little more stubborn, you must pull the reins the direction you want it to go."
She pulled the reins right and the horse went right. She smiled a little, "This is not to difficult," she muttered to herself.
"If you wish to go faster either nudge it's side or even flick the reins a little."
Feeling confident she nudged the horse faster, but she was not ready for the horse to suddenly charge forward, straight towards a tree that was at the edge of the clearing.
"HOW DO YOU MAKE IT STOP!" she yelled.
"Pull the reins back towards you!"
She did that, but too hard and too fast, the horse reared back, neighing in protest. She lost her grip and slipped off the horse. Falling into a particularly muddy spot. The horse panicked a little and kicked out, nearly hitting Luriel as she fell. Elrond quickly walked over, grabbing the horses reins firmly, quickly calming the horse, murmuring a few comforting words to it. Once the danger had passed, he turned his attention to Luriel who was slowly pushing herself out of the mud. It covered her, her hair was matted to her back, her clothes ruined and dripped off of her face.
Once Elrond saw she was fine, he felt a smile twitch the corner of his lips, before long he was laughing in amusement. Luriel tried getting the mud out of her eyes, managing to smear it off, so she could open her eyes. She looked up and glared at Elrond.
He extended a hand to help her up, still laughing as he spoke, "You know, I believe you are to remain on the horse." This earned a scowl from Luriel, it slowly turned into a smirk. She grabbed Elrond's hand and pulled him into the mud as well. He fell on top of her, splashing mud everywhere. He blinked, shocked, he noticed his position a top of Luriel and quickly got off, but in his haste he slipped in the mud, landing on his back next to her. She was laughing too hard to notice his embarrassment, he joined in once his initial embarrassment past. She slowly stood, Elrond soon following. She tried getting the mud off best she could, but looked up in frustrated defeat. She saw Elrond having the same struggles, as he had worn his golden tan robes, now stained with dark mud.
"Is there not a spring near here?" she asked.
He looked up, nodding, "It is just beyond the trees," he said pointing south of them.
"We should probably clean ourselves up before returning to Rivendell.
She walked over to the horse and grabbed it's reins, leading it towards the spring. Elrond followed. Once they neared the spring, Luriel tied the horse to a tree before walking towards the water. She slipped out of the travelers tunic, her boots and leggings, wearing nothing but her undergarments. Elrond saw the two parallel scars running down her back to her left side, as well as scars from arrows, all old wounds from a distant past. She tossed her clothes to the side before walking into the spring, oblivious to his eyes staring at her back. She dived into the deep end, leaving a confused Elrond on the shore by the horse. She surfaced, most of the mud off of her. She gracefully swam to the edge sitting in the shallows, she began scrubbing off the rest. She paused and looked back at Elrond who simply stood at the water's edge, "Are you not going to clean off the mud?" she asked.
"I..." he stammered.
Luriel stood, rolling her eyes, as she walked over to him, "Stop acting so flustered, you have seen me like this before, how many times have you had to heal an injury on me?" she stopped just before him, "Come on mellon-nín, not afraid of the water are you?" she asked slyly pulling off his outer robe and tossing it aside, "You will have to do the rest yourself, now hurry, before the mud dries, it is most uncomfortable, believe me." She said walking back to where she had been sitting. She sat and resumed cleaning the mud off of her fair skin,the water up to her upper back.
He blinked a couple times, scolding himself for acting so childish. He slipped off his tunic and boots, keeping his leggings on. He slipped into the water next to her. She was unbraiding her hair, but it was a tangled mess. He went to the deep end, diving under the water. She laid back hoping the water would help untangle her hair. She managed to get the mud out, her hair white once again. She sat up, seeing Elrond nowhere to be found. She scanned the surface of the water, concern filling her. She stood and made her way to where she last saw him. She swam in place looking around, "Elrond?!" she called. She dove under the water, trying to find him. She surfaced after a solid minute. She took a deep breath, ready to go back under, when she felt arms wrap around her from behind, pulling her under. She fought back in a panic, the arms released her. She broke the surface, gasping and coughing a little. She turned to face who ever had done that, only to see the top half of Elrond's head. His eyes above the surface, glittering with amusement.
"Elrond!" she exclaimed both in annoyance and relief, he disappeared under the water again. She followed suit, she could see through blurred vision him swimming around her with surprising speed. She mentally sighed as she swam back up.
"If this is your idea of revenge for the mud incident then-" she did not get to finish her sentence before she felt something grab her ankle and yank her back down. She immediately fought to get back to the surface. She coughed out water and breathed in air. Laughter met her ears. She turned to the sound, and saw Elrond in front of her, laughing. It was a true laugh, he had not laughed like that ever since Celebrían sailed west. Once she regained her breath, she narrowed her eyes at him. She moved her arms through the water towards him, splashing him. His laughter faltered, but only a little as he retaliated with a splash of his own. She joined the laughter as they swam back to the shallows. They sat, the water reaching mid chest.
The laughter slowly fell to silence as they caught their breath. Most of the mud was off of them. Luriel leaned back slightly and looked over at Elrond, who was looking up at the trees above them, a smile still on his face. She noticed a smear still on his face, and reached over and gently rubbed it off. He turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised.
"You still had a spot of mud," she explained.
He nodded slowly and looked back up. She turned to where their clothes laid. Standing she made her way towards them. He looked over his shoulder at her.
"What are you doing?"
She looked back as she picked up the clothes, "Unless you wish to return half dressed, then I must clean these." She said as she walked only a foot into the water, it was only up to her mid calf. Kneeling down, she began scrubbing them. Elrond stood and made his way next to her.
Kneeling as well, "I can assist in this," he stated grabbing his own clothes.
"Very well," she said with a smile. It took a while to get the mud off, but they did it. She took all the clothes in her arms, despite Elrond's protest, and walked out of the water over to a tree. She laid the clothes out on a low hanging branch. The shoes were an easy clean and were set next to the same tree.
Luriel backed up and turned to where Elrond stood in the water. She placed her hands on her hips.
"It will be a while yet before they dry," she said.
"Can you not dry it with your magic?" he inquired, tilting his head slightly, his gaze on the clothes.
"And ruin perfectly good attire, no, it is best to let them dry naturally," she said walking back into the water.
"What are we to do until then?" he asked in concern.
She glanced at him, "We will have to wait, and fill the time." She said with a shrug, making her way to the deeper area. She sighed and began to float on her back, her arms spread out, "Relax Elrond, you need it, shed the title of Lord of Imladris and enjoy yourself."
He sighed and sat back in the shallows. He suddenly noticed the water was heating up. He looked to Luriel and noticed her hands glowed a soft red, "What are you doing?" he asked.
She let her body sink, so just her head was above water again, and looked at him, "Have you never relaxed in a heated spring before?"
He shook his head, "Only a warm bath when needed but never a spring."
She swam over to him, sitting next to him, "In the mountains, we had hot springs, it was the best way to relax both body and mind, I thought you would enjoy experiencing a piece of my homeland, if it discomforts you, I will stop." She said.
He sat in thought, he realized that the heated water did indeed feel wonderful. His almost always tense muscles relaxing, "It is... Interesting," he said finally.
She smiled a leaned back, just her face was above the surface, her hair fanned around her, her hands still glowing. She closed her eyes. Only once the spring was perfect, did she stop. Steam faintly rose from the water. An hour passed by, and the yellow light of an afternoon sun peeked through the leaves of the trees.
Elrond glanced at their clothes, "Do you think they are dry yet?" he asked.
"Hmmm?" Luriel asked, opening her eyes. She sat up so her ears were out of the water, "Did you say something?" she asked.
"Nothing, I will find out myself," he said, standing slowly. Water dripping from him, he made his way to shore. Walking up to the tree with their clothes, he shook his hand dry. Feeling the fabric, he knew they were still damp.
He turned back to the spring, he saw Luriel had turned and watched him, "Is everything alright Elrond? You seem rather impatient, which is unlike you."
"I am fine," he assured.
She pursed her lips and tilted her head in disbelief, "Mellon-nín, I know you, something troubles you." he did not respond, but when she stood, she noticed his eyes looked away from her. She then remembered that he was but a half elf, and that hus human blood made him unlike the other elves, despite choosing the elvish life.
She looked down at herself, then back at him. She sat back down in the water, "Am I making you uncomfortable?" she asked in confusion, "If so I apologize, that was not my intent."
He looked back at her for a second before turning back to the clothes, "They are almost dry, they will not be the most comfortable to wear, but it will do." He said, grabbing the clothes. He walked over to the water's edge, draping her clothes on one arm, he extended them out to her. She stood and walked over, accepting the clothes. He turned away and began slipping his tunic on. Luriel waited a bit, until she was relatively dry, before she began slipping her leggings on.
They heard a slight gasp behind them. They both turned and saw Glorfindel standing, wide eyed, eyebrow raised in questioning. Luriel who was in the middle of putting her second leg in her pants, started to loose balance from surprise, she hopped on one leg trying to regain balance. Elrond stood in shock, he did not see Luriel falling towards him, causing them both to fall. They both looked up at the elf standing before them.
"Glorfindel!? What are you doing here?" Luriel exclaimed, managing to put her leggings on, standing quickly.
"I could ask you the same thing," he responded in his deep voice.
Elrond stood, and quickly finished putting his tunic on. Luriel spoke on his behalf, "We fell into the mud and desired to clean it off," she said, she was calm and not at all embarrassed, just surprised.
The golden haired elf nodded slowly, his gaze traveling over the two before him, "I simply came out searching for you, I thought you to be in the clearing practicing horse riding, but when I did not find you there, I looked further."
"Why were you looking for us?" Elrond finally spoke, now calm and collected.
"To let you know Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn have come," he answered.
"Very well, I will head there now," Elrond said throwing his robes and boots on, he walked past Glorfindel without another word. The elf watched him go before turning to Luriel who had slipped into her tunic in that time. She was leaning against a tree, slipping her boots on. Sensing the elf's gaze on her, she looked up.
"Yes?" she inquired.
"Nothing," he said with a shrug.
She untied the horse and led it to him, stopping before him, "Think what you want, but nothing occurred here that should not have, nor would I ever intentionally put Elrond in that situation." She said firmly.
Glorfindel actually smiled a little at that and rested a hand on her shoulder, "I know that Luriel, you two are good friends, you bring a smile to his face that otherwise would never exist. Especially since Celebrían has left. You are good for him as he is you," he said turning and following where Elrond had left to. Luriel looked at the horse standing next to her and sighed, "Elves are strange," she whispered to the horse, looking where the elves had disappeared to, it nickered softly in response. She sighed as she continued "Perhaps in a different life would this had happened differently, but in this life our hearts are pledged to others."
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Just a little interaction between Lord Elrond and Lady Luriel, to show their friendship, and all around a fun little scene that happened whilst she lived in Rivendell
