Fate, Creation, and Destruction,

Chapter 3

Thranduil and Elrond had been speaking, for quite some time. One thing was held clear however: Not even the servants came near that night. They had been dismissed for the night. In any kingdom in any circumstances, this was seen as a serious meeting between the two. They had been discussing their strange findings in Mirkwood.

In particular, the stranger she-elf.

Who, apparently, is not supposed to even be an elf. They knew the enormity, but yet hesitated. They had considered asking the Lady Galadriel for help, because they knew not how to understand these things. Galadriel might. With her mirror, she was able to see things both that she wants to see and sometimes, not so much.

The question was simple, but the decision not so.

Their choice was made very quickly and abruptly the next morning, when the healers once again ran screaming from the healing quarters, screaming about snappy and angry flowers.

Thranduil was awoken quite rudely by screaming. He knew those screams, and unfortunately, was deemed the most appropriate to deal with it.

He stomped through the hallway, glaring ahead of him. He paused as frenzied elves ran past him. He stopped as he saw the shadow of something seem to coil like a snake and lash out. Then another scream, and the last elf ran past him, holding a bleeding arm.

As soon as he rounded the corner, he stopped.

Not often was the King of Mirkwood beyond finding words. They succeeded in eluding him this moment however.

He felt a presence behind him, and knew full well the only one who would approach right now besides himself was Elrond.

"By Mandos…" Elrond whispered.

Little plant things towered over the surface of the polished marble, mimicking the likeness of a snake whenst they moved.

They hissed angrily, coiling protectively around their burden. Which was, no less than the she-beast herself. Only a pair of bare feet could be seen, the rest of her body was grown over by at first glance would have been seen as a tree.

It was really just a large mass of undergrowth that hung from the pillars and stone walls nearby.

Now, these plant monstrosities...

They resembled of one long vine, perhaps a tuft of a smaller vine grew from the main vine. At it's very top, was a flower that shuddered, eased, hissed. Repeated the pattern again.

At the sight of Thranduil and Elrond, the flowers growled and hissed, then with one last bout of angry noise, their flowers opened up and they shrieked at us both, and we covered our ears.

"Hmmmm….?" A stirring from the pair of feet. The feet drew in, disappeared, and a familiar head popped out in all its permanent smiling glory.

Jasylnne, or Screamwake, had awoken and regarded the scene with sleepy eyes. "What's with all the noise….?"

Jasylnne yawned, her mouth opened wide and we could see all of her teeth all the way to her molars.

This is because of her slit smile, carved into her face. We still don't know the story behind that.

"Jasylnne, what is going on here?" Elrond demanded.

The she-beast simply stretched with one arm straight above her. "Hmmm…? Oh… Hey! What are these plant things?"

Thranduil groaned. "Give it a rest they are protecting you and you pretend to not even have the slightest clue as to why this happened!?"

Jasylnne snorted. "Oh, you called me by my earthen name… unexpected. And, I didn't pretend King Eyebrows!"

Thranduil started to sputter indignantly, and Elrond turned away so Thranduil could not see that he was trying hard not to laugh.

Just then, one of the vines slithered up to Jaslynne, and let out a squeak. This one, had a sunset orange flower on the top of its vine. Said flower seemed to shudder, then it opened, and Thranduil and Elrond braced their ears for the shattering noise.

But none came.

Instead, a high keening and whining erupted. Jasylnne stared before she cooed, "Why hallo, aren't you a pretty one?"

Jaslynne raised a finger up to the vine's flower, rested it there as if she'd placed it under someone's chin. She giggled as the vine curled itself lightly on her wrist. "I didn't know you guys had flowers like these in this world."

"That is precisely the problem, there are no flowers like"- Elrond interrupted Thranduil, who was about to go on a rant.

"What he means to say is that we have not yet ever seen a flower like that before. You are positive you don't know how they got there?" Elrond crossed his arms, and gazed over at another flower vine that had decided to take one of the bedposts as its perch.

Moments later, a pink one, a blue one, an a red one all did the same as its other kin. Jasylnne watched in awe before she gulped. "Ah, shit."

The flower on her wrist squeaked, as if asking what the problem was.

She looked over to the cliff drop to the balcony, and both elves regarded her patiently, yet one of them less so. "No I don't have any clue, but there is one way to know for sure…" Jaslynne mumbled.

"And what way is that?" Her head tilted up to meet Elrond's gaze.

Then it flicked to the cliff she'd been eyeing, and bolted toward it while both elves mouth's dropped.

"Are you insane?!" Shrieked Thranduil.

There was only a cackle of laughter as Jaslynne's form dived off the cliff-like balcony.

Elrond and Thranduil rushed to the edge, horror on their faces.

It was ill founded.

There was the roar and rustle as a massive entwined pillar of vines ripped through the wind, between the two stone shocked elves, and finally down the cliff. Vines craped and leaves scratched on the stone, adding to the noise level.

The vine retreated slowly up back to the stone cliff, and finally a familiar form came to view.

Jasylnne was unharmed, sitting casually as one would on a chair. One leg crossed over the other, with an arm resting comfortably on another large vine as if it were an armrest. "About my Insanity… I prefer being called Mental, and if you have to ask a question like that…"

The vines lifted her back onto the stone polished floor gently, as if she was made of porcelain. "Then you already know..."

Thranduil locked gazes with Elrond who muttered, "Now it is definitely time to contact Galadriel."