Disclaimer: Tolkien owns everything. This story is not for profit.
Chapter 2
Three Years Ago
A Western wind was blowing through the open window on my right. It made the papers scattered across my private chambers fly up and dance across my room, but did not disturb the peace. Nothing could disturb the peace this shiny morning; not the sound of the river a mile off, not the woodpeckers' rhythmic work, and certainly not my carefree thoughts. Not until a man rushed through my door, his voice cracking like a wine glass on a stone floor.
"My lady!"
"Mmmhmmm?"I murmured, paying more attention to the harp I was casually strumming by the breezy window than to my easily excitable manservant.
I practiced my harp every morning, but the activity was particularly sweet today, when I alone was the only of our family in our great castle of Pelargir, the oldest and strongest city in Lebennin, a province in Southern Gondor. My father, the governor of Lebennin, was away on business in another part of the province with my mother and my younger brothers. My older brother was away hunting in another part of the province. I had not thought it right for my older brother, Fiske, not to take the two younger with him. But at the age of twenty my brother had still not grown up.
"My lady, please stop what you are doing. You must come with me now!" Aelon, the head of the stables, and the highest ranking manservant while the others were traveling with my parents, I could tell had ran to deliver me this news, because when I finally turned to look at him, his face was red and his hair was wild.
"What? What on Earth is the matter?" I said rising quickly from my seat, not enjoying the unusual serious note in his voice.
"My lady, you must come with me. You must leave this city now and make for the city of Calembel, where the leader of that land dwells! Your brother will be there waiting for you."
As he said this he took my arm and hurriedly led me down a dark hallway that I had not been through before opening up from behind a bookcase, though I had lived in this small, stone castle on the river my entire life. I was so confused but finally had the presence of mind to ask him to stop and explain.
"Please, Aelon, tell me why I must leave the city! What has happened?"
"It is your cousin, Baldrick. He is coming here to claim your parent's property. He claims the estate rightfully belongs to him and he means to kill you if he finds you here."
"That is nonsense. He has long been jealous of my father's wealth and power, but he would not do something like this. He is a young, hotheaded young man who has no claim, and he would be sure to fail."
"He can. And he will."
The emotions and stress of the conversation weighed heavily on me now that I realized he was quite serious about everything that he had said, and I could hear my voice trembling with emotion and knew my eyes glistened when I yanked my arm free and halted our progress, which had ended into the castle stables.
"I will not leave my home. Especially not while my father is away. I will write to him and await his instruction, or better yet his presence. He will know what to do. I will not flee."
Aelon looked at the floor during my speech, but now he slowly raised his head, and I knew that he would now tell me something that he had been putting off, but that would finally make all of the pieces of this mysterious dilemma fit together.
"Your parents are dead, Laurwen."
He looked me in my eyes as he told me this, like any good man would. I wonder if he could see his reflection in my golden eyes, and if that made it easier or harder for him to say what he had to say?
" I have had this news from a messenger who just came to the house. They were killed on their way back home, by your cousin." He cleared his throat and blinked away his tears before continuing.
"They on their way home when Baldrick stopped them and killed them with his foul followers. He and his witnesses say that they met your parents on the road, and your father attacked him, because he was afraid that he was a threat to your brother's inheritance. Your brother has had to flee to Lamedon because your cousin has assured the Steward that your parent's intentions were treasonous. Your cousin has been pronounced the new governor of Lebennin."
He cleared his throat and wiped a hand over his face.
"You must g-o my lady." His voice was cracking now. He was a loyal servant, like part of the family, and I know he had loved my parents. "If you stay here you will die. Go to your brother who has already fled this land and has sought protection from the governor of our neighboring province. Be with your remaining family, and pray that you will all have the guidance to proceed. But do not stay here. Here there is only death for you. Go West. I have sent a messenger to out. My daughter, Aeiliel, will meet you at a tavern a few miles outside of the city, and she will ride with you to the house of Lamedon's governor. You will be safer traveling with another, and less recognizable."
"And my younger brothers?"
"Taken captive by your cousin. Still alive, but do not hope for them."
I said nothing but allowed him to tie my riding cloak around my shoulders and hoist me up onto my mare, Sunflower.
"Speed of the Valar, m'lady."
With that he kicked my horse and I bonded out of the stable, blinking in the morning light.
….
"Very good, my king," Thranduil's second cousin, Carfon, added standing a few steps below his throne, giving his ever positive assertion of his majesty's judgment.
This afternoon, Thranduil was doing the most mundane of all his kingly duties: hearing the petitions and concerns of his subjects and giving advice accordingly.
"Now then," his cousin continued, glancing at the list on the parchment in his hand, "there is the matter of the damaged bridge over one of the rivers in the southern area of the realm."
The bridge was broken last week when a very old and very large tree fell down over it. It not often that a tree fell in Mirkwood; the trees were very strong, with even stronger roots, but that night there had been a strong storm, and the tree was ancient. It had fallen right through the center of the bridge into the river, crushing the bridge. It had taken a hundred elves to move the tree out of the river.
"The bridge is of course, extremely important for travel and trade." Carfon added, encouraging his King, who was strangely silent this afternoon.
"Yes," the king agreed, reluctantly pulling himself out of his thoughts, "have it repaired immediately. I will send some soldiers and craftsmen to help those who live in the South repair it. And have it made better this time. Take aesthetics into mind, the last bridge was ugly."
"Indeed. And one more thing, your highness, I hate to bother you with this, but the girl that was found in the woods has been stirring in her sleep. She may wake up soon, if you wish to question her immediately."
The king glanced up, interested, and gave a slight wave of his hand, excusing his cousin.
…
I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like I had been asleep for an eternity, and my eyelids in the meantime had turned into lead, and were too heavy to open.
When I finally opened them sufficiently, and my eyes adjusted to the light, I found myself in a very large bed filled with dozens of pillows. I was also in a breezy white bed gown, and had apparently been cared for, noticing the bandages on my arms. I remembered now having collapsed from exhaustion in the forest, but nothing after that. The room I was lying in was large, bright, elegant, and contained about 30 crowded elves standing around my bed and staring down at me.
I had seen an elf once before when my parents had invited one to dinner who was visiting the city. That elf had been quiet and intelligent, although somewhat reserved. He not been very intimidating, being the only elf in a dining hall full of men and women of Southern Gondor.
Now, however, I was the only human in a room full of graceful creatures with long hair and pointed ears, and I found them more imposing this time.
Feeling very self-conscience, I pulled the blanket up over my body, noticing that I was clothed in a loose silk nightgown and my arms were bare. I looked back at the elves with eyes that I assumed were as large as frying pan. My hair was also unbraided, and my long curls were splayed across the pillows. Elves wore their hair loose, I knew, but the women in my city had always had it up, and it made me feel oddly exposed to have it unbound before so many strangers.
A male elf stepped forward with hair as brown as the bark on a river-sprout tree, and inclined his head to me.
"My name is Padhrion, and I am one of the healers of this realm. You are in Greenwood the Great, the realm of King Thranduil."
So Far?
He waited as if for me to speak, but I said nothing.
"Of course, it is known now to many as Mirkwood, since over the years the forest is no longer as pure and wholesome as it once was; evil having now found its way in."
Again, I could think of nothing which to say.
He coughed into his hand nervously.
I realized the amount of danger I was in. I had been fleeing, and trying to outrun those who would do me harm. How much time had I lost here in the elf king's halls? How much closer were those who had been hunting me?
The healer elf, Padhrion, began to kindly ramble once more, attempting to make the room less awkward, but another voice stopped him with a loud, "Enough!"
A different elf stepped forward.
This one much different from the one called Padhrion. The other elves stepped away from him as he came to the edge of the bed. He had long pale hair, looked to be taller than all of the others, and had a very stern look in his pale eyes.
"You were found without leave in this realm, but under the circumstances you were brought in and taken care of. However, most travelers must ask my leave to travel through this kingdom. What business brings you through Greenwood?"
His voice was as cold and hard as his eyes were.
I paused for a long second, but this elf's voice made it clear that an answer was required.
Sitting up as gently as I could so as to not offend my sore body, I noticed minute white flowers falling out of my hair. That confused me, but I supposed that when waking up in a land of elves one should expect to find random flowers in one's hair.
It took a few minutes for my voice to work, considering how ill I was and how long it had been since I had spoken to anyone.
After a small coughing fit I asked croakily, "Has there been a young woman pass through these parts? She would be tall and have light blond hair."
"Who?" said the tall elf said quickly and sharply, none of the kindness in his voice that the brown haired Padhrion spoke with.
"My sister, a girl named Aeiliel." My head was becoming a little clearer now, and so I added, "or a young fox? I had a young one-eyed fox with me, who is weak in one paw?"
"Answer the questions I asked you, and then we will discuss your missing sister and your one-eyed orange rat." The tall of elf said mercilessly.
"I won't answer anything," I answered unblinking, "until you tell me if my sister has been here or not."
The elf's stern expression shifted to one of anger as he answered with gritted teeth, "You will learn of your sister when you answer my questions!"
I cringed and sank back into the sheets.
An elf's anger was a terrifying thing, so odd and out of place in such a fair and wise face, commanding so much power and force. It was overwhelming, and I was too weak too fight.
I knew it could be dangerous for anyone to know who I was and why I had come to Mirkwood uninvited. But I now remained silent in the face of this elf's anger.
Padhrion walked up to the tall elf. After giving a little bow he said quietly, "Perhaps we shall give her a little more time. She is still very weak and most likely is not feeling well enough to speak."
"No! I will not leave this room until the maiden has answered my questions. And I will thank you to remember your place, Padhrion." The blond elf said, turning his wrath on someone else now.
The healer responded quietly. "I beg you to reconsider, your highness. The young lady has been through a great deal of pain."
The tall elf, who I now understood must be the King of the Woodland Realm, said nothing, but turned on his heel after giving me a last vicious look. Most of the elves followed him out, leaving me alone with Padhrion, and my nervous thoughts.
