Chapter Eight: Adonnenniel Gets Angry and Estela Gets Girly

DISCLAIMER: My characters had a secret meeting and conspired against me. They decided that Estela needed to embrace some inner streak of girliness and Adonnenniel needed to be more three dimensional and have some negative emotions for once. I claim no responsibility for this. My characters have a mind of their own at this point.

Author's Note: Haha random side note: according to spellcheck, Estela needs to embrace an inner streak of grisliness.

Random Quote: "Today, I was feeling really down so I talked to one of my extremely bubbly friends on how she handled bad days. She looked at me with a serious face and said, 'I think of what babies would look like with mustaches' then walked away. I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day. MLIA" ~mylifeisaverage dot com

It was like nothing Estela had ever seen or even read about. Unlike Moria, the architecture of Lothlorien had no counterpart in the human world to which she could compare it, and the movies had failed to capture the heavenly beauty and ethereal aura surrounding Lothlorien in a dreamlike haze. She felt as if she had stepped into another world all together. She was absolutely enchanted. Estela wished she could stay here forever, basking in the magic and beauty that surrounded the woods like a veil, shielding the place from the rest of the world.

Time itself seemed to pass in a different way. The Elves did everything slowly and gracefully, and the forests' lights were glasslike, and tinted with deep blue and shades of purple, casting unearthly shadows on the towering trees. Wrapped around the trees were magnificent staircases, winding in perfect symmetry.

Up above the staircases were the chambers in which the Fellowship would be staying for the time being. Estela was to be sharing a room with Adonnenniel. It was strange, thought Estela. Adonnenniel seemed to be keeping a stony distance between them. Ever since Moria, Adonnenniel had not spoken one word to her sister. Estela figured she should just let it go, thinking that perhaps Adonnenniel was still in shock after having been through so much horror in Moria.

After having been admitted to the woodland by Haldir and introduced to Galadriel, they had been shown to the rooms in which she and the others would be living for the time being. Estela and Adonnenniel's room was grand. At the far end of the room, there was a large washroom with a bathtub, mirror, and sink. In the center of the room stood a wooden table. Bordering the table were two large beds, supported by pillars of intricately carved cedar. The walls had a type of metal embedded in them, designed into swirling silver lines. There was no ceiling, and in the weeks to come Estela would come to love the freedom of being able to feel the winter wind and see the star strewn sky.

But right now, nothing else was on Estela's mind but a relentless replaying of when the Fellowship had been introduced to Galadriel. Everything had played out just as it had in the movie. Galadriel had acknowledged Gandalf's death, Boromir had winced when she spoke to him in his mind, and Galadriel had told the Fellowship how 'The quest stands upon the edge of a knife'.

But afterwards, just as they were walking away from Celeborn and Galadriel, Estela had heard the Queen's voice in her mind, resonating and poignant.

Come to me tonight. To the Mirror. You know of where I speak. Come when Frodo returns. Bring your sister. You must come.

Estela had turned around, to see Galadriel staring at her with those piercing blue eyes.

The first thing Adonnenniel did when she reached her room was to head straight for the bed, and lay down, savoring the feeling of an actual mattress beneath her body. She was dimly aware of Estela standing off to the side, staring intently out the window. The anger she had felt earlier toward her sister had somewhat dissipated, but it was still there, strong and very much present in her thoughts.

Sometime later, a young and pretty Elf woman tapped on the door of their room. She had long blonde hair and cat-like green eyes.

"Greetings," she said in a lilting voice, entering and inclining her head slightly. "I have brought clothes, bandages, and dinner for you. The bandages are for your abrasion," she said, handing them to Estela. She then set a pile of beautiful, clean gowns atop Adonnenniel's bed, and lay a platter of assorted fruits and cheeses on the table.

"Thanks!" said Adonnenniel cheerfully. "Say, these gowns are really pretty!" She had picked up a blue one, and was eyeing it excitedly. "This'll look great with my eyes. What's your name?" she asked.

"I am Bellethiel." The Elf looked slightly flustered, but responded cheerfully enough.

"That's a pretty name, but can I just call you Belle?" Adonnenniel asked.

"If you wish," Bellethiel said, now sounding amused. She smiled tentatively at Adonnenniel, who smiled back widely.

"This place is way cool, by the way," Adonnenniel said. "Did you grow up here?"

"Yes, I did. My father belongs to the unit of the Marchwarden's archers. I have been here since birth."

"That is way cool."

"What do you mean by use of the word 'cool'?" asked Bellethiel suddenly.

Adonnenniel laughed. "Where I come from, it means the same thing as awesome, or amazing."

"Well, then yes," Belle mused, "I suppose it is very cool here. If you wish, I will be more than happy to show you the sites of Lothlorien after the sun rises," she offered. Wow, Estela thought. Only Adonnenniel could make immediate friends with a random elf lady in Middle Earth just as easily as she could with people back in high school.

"I would so totally love that!" Adonnenniel said. Estela walked over to her bed and randomly chose a dress from the pile. As Adonnenniel and Bellethiel talked to each other, Estela sat down on the bed and busied herself with trying to figure out how to use the bandage. The material was thick, and there was no discernable way to make it actually stay on her skin. Ugh, she thought as she struggled with wrapping it around her leg, Why haven't band aids been invented yet? It was only after several minutes of fumbling with it did she realize that she should probably clean her wound before putting on a bandage. She went into the washroom.

When Estela closed the washroom's door and turned around, she gasped in pure shock. She had glimpsed herself in the room's mirror. Oh my God, she thought. She looked so…different. For several long moments, all she could do was stare at the near stranger in the mirror. It was so bizarre, seeing herself for the first time in months.

After staring at her reflection for a moment, however, she realized that the changes in herself were more subtle than she had initially thought. Her facial features were more defined, and her hazel eyes seemed almost glasslike or translucent. Her hair was lighter and streaked with a coppery color. The sun must have done that to me, she thought running her fingers through the colored streaks. Just as she thought it, she realized that unless she was imagining things, her skin was also paler. The sun wouldn't do that. Not usually at least.

Estela shook herself mentally. She must be imagining things. Maybe the stress of being here was finally getting to her. Willing herself to look away from her reflection, Estela focused on bathing and then getting dressed, which turned out to be just about as stressful and intimidating as fighting Orcs had been. She had never worn a dress in her life, having avoided homecoming and any other fancy occasions like the plague. After she put the dress on, she once more struggled with the bandage. It took her several long and frustrated minutes, but eventually she managed to secure it around her leg by tying it tightly in an unwieldy knot.

When she was finished, she chanced a glance at herself in the mirror again. Estela couldn't believe her eyes. The dress looked gorgeous on her. It was a pale, silvery color that shimmered like droplets of a waterfall caught in the sun's rays when she moved. Although wet from bathing, her auburn hair looked absolutely striking against its color, and her eyes seemed wider and flashed a sheen bronze. The silky fabric hugged her body in the right places, showing off assets she had never known could look so good before. Maybe there is something in not wearing jeans and a t-shirt every day, she thought. If she ever got back home maybe she'd take a leaf out of Adonnenniel's clothing philosophy.

Overcome by a sudden impulse, Estela spun around in front of the mirror. She watched as the dress flared out and twirled, feeling more girly than she ever had before. And then, mid-twirl, the dress caught beneath her feet and Estela lost her balance and face planted on the ground.

As she stood up, Estela started laughing. Apparently she could handle miles of torturous walking, the endless darkness of Moria, and battling multiple Orcs. But when it came to wearing a dress, she was utterly hopeless.

Estela came out of the washroom five minutes later to find that Bellethiel had left, and Adonnenniel had resumed her unyielding silence. Without saying a word to her, her sister walked into the washroom to change. Estela sat in solidarity for a while, errantly wondering if her sister was going to take as long as she did at home to wash up and get dressed.

Adonnenniel took a full hour. Estela imagined that her sister was fumbling over the washing part, and was probably quite annoyed about the notable lack of an actual shower. And she had brought a hairbrush with her into the washroom. This could be a while, Estela thought, sighing.

And then Estela heard something in the distance. She approached the window, and the sound became louder. It was singing, she realized. The sound was beautiful and heavenly. Listening to it felt otherworldly, and filled Estela with poignant emotions. Waves of sadness swept over her, and she felt inexplicable tears rise. Eventually, the music subsided, and left a lingering feeling of sadness in the room.

When Adonnenniel at last emerged from the washroom, Estela nearly gasped. And I thought I had looked beautiful, she thought resentfully. There was no other way to describe it: Her sister looked like a model straight out of a magazine. Her beauty was striking and eye catching, and outshone even Bellethiel's. Heck, Estela thought, forget Bellethiel. Adonnenniel is prettier than Arwen. Jealousy swept over Estela, powerful and consuming. It just wasn't fair.

"That looks nice on you," Estela said tentatively, shoving her jealousy away. "The blue makes your hair look darker and your eyes grayer." Adonnenniel did not respond, and they sat down and ate dinner in utter silence. Occasionally Estela would say something random and errant, and her sister would either glare at her or not respond. After half an hour of this, Estela couldn't bear it anymore.

"It's nice to be wearing normal clothes again, right? I mean, not they're exactly normal for us, because they're Elfish gowns and all, but you know what I mean." Still Adonnenniel remained quiet. "I mean, I was in those dorky overalls the whole time. Come to think of it, I don't think we stopped to bathe and wash our clothes more than five or six times in our months of walking. Eeew. I bet we smelled worse than my horses back home." Estela realized suddenly that she was rambling quite incoherently, and stopped.

She gazed at Adonnenniel intently. "Look," she started. "If you're mad at me for something, please tell me what it is." She didn't except her sister to respond, and was surprised when she did.

"You let him die, you jerk." Adonnenniel's voice was sharp. "You could have prevented it, but you didn't. Do you honestly think that this was how it was supposed to happen? Maybe the whole reason we were sent her was to stop Gandalf's death. And now you failed." Estela felt as if she had slapped her.

"Look…" Estela trailed off, knowing there was nothing she could say without giving away future events.

"And couldn't you have at least told me, if not any of the others?" Adonnenniel's voice rose higher. She stood up, looking fiercely beautiful and equally livid.

"I wanted to!" Estela snapped, shedding her calm demeanor as anger swept over her. "Do you really think I wanted him to die? Trust me, Adonnenniel, there is a reason Gandalf had to die. He did not die in vain. I promise." Estela stopped and closed her eyes momentarily. "I can give nothing more away."

"Just get out!" Adonnenniel shrieked. "I want to go home and you're just making everything worse. Just LEAVE." Estela backed away, numb and shocked.

"Okay," she whispered. "Just please think about what I said." Estela walked out of the room and then broke into a run down the staircase, stumbling down the steps two at a time. She nearly tripped over her dress again, and decidedly hitched it up a bit. Estela wandered blindly through the forest, not quite sure where she was going. And then she remembered what Galadriel had said to her earlier. It was late now, Frodo must have returned to the others by now. Estela made a split second decision, and then, without her sister, headed toward where she knew the Mirror was.

As it turned out, Estela had no idea where to find Galadriel's Mirror. She stumbled around Lothlorien, lost and confused and disoriented. It was night, and a pale blue light filtered in a dispersed haze through the treetops. It gave the forest an otherworldly and trancelike feeling. As she walked through the forest, she occasionally saw Elves treading lightly through the forest and peering curiously at her. They walked quietly, and usually Estela saw them before she heard them. After a while, Estela sunk to the ground and put her head in her hands. She was angry and hurt, confused and guilty.

"Lady Estela?" asked a hesitant voice. Estela's head shot up, and she saw Legolas standing in front of her. He looked slightly shocked at her appearance.

Estela turned away from him and wiped her eyes furiously. "You snuck up on me again," she told him after she regained her composure. She looked at his expression and saw that he seemed perplexed. "I mean, I didn't hear you approaching, and you startled me," she clarified.

He did not reply, and a long silence stretched between them. She wasn't sure how long the silence was. It could have been mere minutes or an hour. Time had felt different on entering Lothlorien, and in her current state of exhaustion it seemed to blur even more so.

Legolas broke the silence. "Why were you crying?" he asked softly.

"I…I wasn't crying," Estela sputtered.

"Estela, your eyes are still quite red. You were crying," he said with assertion. "Why?"

"Gandalf," she said briefly. It was a half truth. She was upset about Gandalf's 'death', but not as much as the others since she knew he would return. She was mostly just upset about Adonnenniel's outburst earlier.

"Ah," Legolas said delicately. "He did not die in vain, Estela. He fought bravely, and in doing so enabled the rest of us to escape without farther fatalities. Do not be disheartened. He would not wish for us to mourn him excessively."

"You're right." Estela closed her eyes and said no more. Another long silence stretched between them. The silence was not awkward or uncomfortable, but simply present. Estela felt her earlier confusion and hurt dissipate slightly. Though they were not speaking much, his presence was oddly comforting.

"What is on your leg?" Legolas asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Estela said, startled. "Oh. You mean the bandage? What about it?"

Legolas laughed. "Who assisted you in wrapping it?"

"Nobody," she said defensively. "I did it myself."

"Ah. That explains much," Legolas said, his lips twitching.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" Estela raised her eyebrows at him.

"Indeed," he admitted. Estela gaped at him. Without another word, Legolas sat down beside her on the ground and before she could protest, had swiftly unbound the bandage in one fluid motion.

Estela gasped when she felt the bandage suddenly removed. It stung her wound. "What…What are you doing?" she sputtered.

He did not reply, but rather began untangling the bandage and then deftly rewrapping it around her leg. His fingers were gentle and soft where they brushed her skin. In but minutes, he had refashioned the bandage perfectly.

"When you return to your room, you should wash the abrasion with warm water so it does not become infected," Legolas said once he had finished.

The pain on her leg had faded, and Estela stared at the bandage bemusedly. "Where'd you learn how to do that? I thought only women knew how to do things like bandaging and such."

"It is necessary for both genders to have knowledge of such things. Is that not so where you come from?"

"No," Estela smiled. "It's not. Do you also know how to cook and knit?"

"Yes, I do," he said with a trace of defensiveness.

Estela laughed. "Pansy," she scoffed.

"You are…aah…making fun of me, as you so phrased it," Legolas said with a smile.

"Yep, that's right," she acknowledged with a grin. "It's called payback. You make fun of my ability to wrap a piece of cloth around my leg, and I subtly question your masculinity. It's a two way street."

Legolas smiled. "I fear I will never comprehend certain phrases which you and your sister invoke. May I inquire as to what a two way street is?"

Estela burst out laughing. "It's kind of hard to explain," she told him. Estela then remembered what she was supposed to be doing right now. Talking with him was quite distracting. "Umm…I'll tell you some other time, though. I have to go somewhere."

Estela made to stand up. A part of her dress was caught beneath her feet, and for the second time that day, she tripped over the hem quite ungraciously.

"You are not accustomed to wearing a dress." Legolas appraised her with poorly concealed amusement.

"Nope," she confirmed. "I usually avoid them. I think that tomorrow I'm going to find some trousers or something to wear." Estela stayed resolutely on the ground. She was wary of standing now.

After a moment, Legolas offered her a hand, and Estela decidedly grasped it. He pulled her up so she was standing face to face with him. "Do not be too eager to change your attire. The dress fares you well," he said.

"Thanks," she smiled. "But it's really too much of a hassle."

Legolas looked slightly put out, but let the matter go. They stood in silence for several minutes. Somewhere in the distance, Estela heard music reverberating softly through the forest, intertwining melodies and harmonies drifting ethereally through the trees like a whisper.

"May I inquire as to what you were doing wandering the forest at night?" Legolas asked after a moment.

"I…I have to do something," she sputtered. Estela did not know if Galadriel had wanted her to tell anyone else. After all, she had spoken in her mind instead of voicing her wishes out loud.

Legolas was unperturbed by her vagueness. "Well, would you be open to company? Wandering an unfamiliar place after sundown is not…"

"No, Legolas," Estela interrupted, shaking her head and suddenly certain that Galadriel had wanted her to come by herself. "I have to go alone."

He froze. "You are going to Galadriel."

"Well, I was, but I have no idea how to get there," she admitted. And then a sudden thought dawned on her. "Wait a minute, how did you know that?"

Legolas' expression was guarded and faintly sad. He spoke slowly. "You will find her if you continue east into the heart of this section of the realm."

"Aaah," Estela said, feigning comprehension. "Umm…Which way is east?"

"Through the trees, Estela." He seemed quite distracted and uneasy, shuffling slightly and avoiding eye contact with her.

Estela stared at him probingly. No duh it's through the trees, she thought.

"In that direction," he pointed after a moment.

"Right. Thanks for clearing that up," she said. Estela looked closely at him, and saw that beneath his outwardly lighthearted demeanor, there was something darker brewing on his features. He seemed…wary. And sad. He took a step closer to her, and for a fleeting moment Estela thought he was going to reach out his hand and grasp hers once more. But then that dark look appeared on his face again, and he backed away from her.

"Brace yourself, Estela." Without another word, Legolas turned around and walked away, vanishing into the recesses of the forest and leaving Estela standing alone. A feeling of foreboding crept through her as she turned the other way and walked toward Galadriel's Mirror.

Coming Up Next! In the Climax of The Part of the Story that Takes Place during The Fellowship!

-Tears will be shed!

-A destiny will be unearthed!

-Someone will get tackled!

…Sound melodramatic enough? :)