Chapter Sixteen: A Time Lapse of Lothlorien Weeks
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing that Tolkien invented.
Author's Note: There. I actually wrote a real disclaimer for the first time since chapter one! Anyway, this chapter is written like a time lapse. I did this because I need to stop detailing every day they spend in Lothlorien. I think I had way too much fun with character development and light hearted interactions. They're leaving within the next two chapters though. FINALLY!
Random Quote: "Wow, sarcasm. That's original." ~Dr. Horrible
The days in Lothlorien began blurring together into a pattern. Without realizing it, Adonnenniel and Estela had effortlessly slipped into a daily routine that they followed like a pre-organized schedule.
Every morning, Estela would wake up before Adonnenniel and then meet up with Legolas. They would walk together through the beautiful forest, taking a longer route to the archery range. Estela cherished these moments alone with him. Sometimes, though, Adonnenniel would tag along with them to the archery range. Though it became clear after the first several times she did this that she was absolutely incapable of shooting.
"OOW!" she screeched. "I thought that vambrace thingy was supposed to protect my skin."
"It protects your arm, My Lady, but not your shoulder. How ever did you manage to shoot the arrow backwards while simultaneously hitting yourself over your shoulder with the bow?" Legolas asked.
"I don't know," she whimpered.
"Just try again, I'm sure you'll get it eventually," Estela told her soothingly. In truth, she was secretly basking in the fact that her sister had not picked up on archery immediately like she could do with everything else in life. Adonnenniel raised her bow.
"Not so high!" Legolas said urgently, but it was too late. With a violent twang, the arrow wobbly whisked directly above where they stood, disappearing into the branches a tree. It didn't come back down. After a while, Adonnenniel stopped accompanying them to the archery range, content to just sleep in or spend time with the hobbits and Bellethiel.
After practicing archery until midday, Legolas and Estela would meet up with the rest of the group for lunch. Every day after they had eaten, the Fellowship practiced swordsmanship together as they had on the first few days. Adonnenniel was still improving rapidly.
"Gothca!" she squealed in delight as she disarmed Sam one day.
"Not fair!" he laughed. "You were using your height as an advantage."
"Yes, and you were using yours to try and whack at my ankles," she countered, smiling.
Meanwhile, Estela's swordsmanship was actually starting to improve, but at a much slower pace.
"Your arms look like limp spaghetti noodles. And somehow you've managed to look like you're having a seizure at the same time," Adonnenniel informed her on a daily basis. Estela vaguely wondered if this was payback for the archery lessons.
"You know what I think it is?" Estela said one day, commenting on how she seemed unable to excel at swordsmanship. "In battle, when the urgency and utmost need to fight is present, it's easier for me to relax. Here, where there's no need to be really aggressive and the only thing I have to worry about is making myself look like an idiot, I'm all tense. Does that make any sense? No, I suppose it doesn't," she sighed.
After an hour or so of sword fighting, Legolas would suggest that they leave to study in the library, and Estela would be more than happy to oblige. Estela found that as time progressed, she could speak Sindarin much better than she could read it. On paper, the words seemed to blur and not make as much sense as when they were spoken. Also, reading it gave her a headache and put her mental endurance to the test. At the end of every day, Estela always had a horrible headache and sometimes ended up not talking much at dinner.
At one point during their lessons, Legolas decided that she was only allowed to speak in Sindarin for three days, and that Aragorn and Legolas would speak only Sindarin to her. Sometimes Estela would understand what they were trying to convey, and be able to think of responses. At other times, she was utterly confused and a bit frustrated. Despite her love of the language, she found she was glad when the three days were over.
However, it was a rewarding process, and she slowly began to see the results of her hard work. One day when they were several weeks into their stay at Lothlorien, Legolas and her were in the library as usual. It was a beautiful day…The sunlight streamed in blurred ribbons through the trees, illuminating the spidery words on the book Legolas was reading to her. It had rained lightly the night before; the kind of rain that left a lingering coolness and made the ground damp but not too wet.
Estela was sitting beside Legolas on the ground, leaning against one of the many trees scattered throughout the library. The moment happened abruptly: She was reading over his shoulder as he read out loud from the book. Suddenly, the words started looking less like a confusing jumble of letters and more like actual words and sentences. She started reading out loud with him, and he gasped in surprise.
"Have I read this one before to you?" he asked.
"No, I can read it," she said proudly. "You're a great teacher. It took me a full year to pick up Spanish."
Legolas smiled at her. "I am proud of you, Estela. Now we must further work on your conversation skills."
Not for the first time, Estela glanced up at him and her breath caught. The emotion had hit her fast: It was a combination of elation and sudden, warm desire…His face was mere inches from her. The sunlight highlighted the gold in his eyes, and seemed to fall into his eyelashes and brighten his cheekbones. His lips were parted slightly. It would be so easy, so natural to lean in and close the space between them...
For a moment Legolas seemed to look at her contemplatively with a sort of detached curiosity, as if his thoughts were starting to drift in the same direction as hers. But then he turned his eyes back to the book. Estela blinked and then the moment was all but forgotten for the remainder of their lesson.
"I truly am proud of you, Estela," he told her again after the lesson concluded. "You have excelled rapidly, and I have no doubt that soon you will be able to speak the language fluently."
Since then, invigorated by this small success, she began studying Elvish twice as hard.
Sometimes at dinner when the other Elves spoke to each other in Sindarin, she was able to understand some of what they were saying. If she listened closely, then she could even catch full sentences. Slowly, she found the language unraveling and the conversations gradually piecing together. Once, she heard Haldir speaking to Lalaith, and was shocked to find herself following their entire conversation.
"I agree with you," Haldir said in Elvish, "Yet as was the case with Aragorn, I find them to be more intelligent than any others raised by humans I have met."
"Despite their strangeness, I am fascinated by them," Lalaith said. "Once you start hearing one of them speak, it is as if you are almost enchanted. I can see why Legolas appears to have an interest in the one girl." Lalaith said this so softly that it was lost amidst the general cacophony of noise and only Haldir and Estela heard her say it.
"Do you think he is wanting to eat her?" whispered Haldir discreetly.
Wait a sec, thought Estela, there's no way I heard that right. Paca…what does that mean? Paca…paca…Oh…!
"Do you think he means to court her?" whispered Haldir discreetly.
"I know not," whispered Lalaith. "I doubt the child knows of our ways and customs in this matter. He could be courting her right now without her even being aware of it."
Estela pondered this for a moment, and then felt like it probably wasn't fair for her to be eavesdropping on such a conversation.
"Pelin pedi i lam edhellen," she said suddenly. Lalaith squeaked a very un-Elvish squeak, and Haldir nearly fell out of his seat. (I speak the Elvish language)
"Why did you not tell us, child?" he asked, regaining his composure.
"Goheno nin," she said. Now the entire table was silent. Legolas looked as if he was trying not to laugh. "Ta nea tyalie. Lasto lalaith nîn." She smiled. (Forgive me. It was funny. I'm trying not to laugh)
It felt absolutely exhilarating to be speaking the language aloud for the first time to someone other than Legolas. It filled Estela with a palpable sense of pride and accomplishment. She had done it! All those long days of toiling endlessly in the library had actually paid off.
"Where did you learn to speak our language? It is not common for outsiders to speak it," an Elf whose name she could not remember said to her in Sindarin. He sounded hostile, and Estela suddenly felt defensive. She had spent countless hours working her hardest to master Elvish, and this was the kind of reaction she got once people heard her speak it for the first time.
"Oh, labo vi Orodruin," she snapped. "Just because I'm not one of you doesn't mean I'm not intelligent enough to speak your language," she said, reverting to Westron. (Go jump in Mount Doom)
There was an awkward pause in which Estela briefly wondered if she had gone too far. But then, the entire table started laughing. She had never heard so many Elves laughing at once, and the sound of it was melodic and delightful. She looked at Legolas and saw that he was staring at her proudly, a smile flickering across his face. Aragorn was laughing hardest, and promptly dropped his drink on his lap. Adonnenniel, the hobbits, Gimli, and Boromir looked appropriately confused.
Regardless of Estela's outburst, dinner from then on ran much smoother. As always, the flow of conversation seemed unstoppable. Estela loved talking to the Elves. Each one of them was unique and had a different perspective on the world. Occasionally, Adonnenniel would do some kind of performance, and always received lavish praise from the Elves. And each night, one of the Elves would sing a song or recite a poem. Afterwards, Estela would bombard them with questions about the origins of the poem or song. As the days past and she found herself becoming more and more interested by and attached to this amazing culture.
After dining with the Elves each day, Estela and Adonnenniel would return to their rooms together.
"Can you teach me some insults in Elvish?" Adonnenniel asked her sister on the same day of Estela's outburst at dinner.
"Why?" Estela asked.
"They might come in useful sometime. It was so funny to watch that guys' face when you dissed him like that," she laughed.
"How do you know I insulted him if you couldn't understand what I was saying?" Estela asked, raising her eyebrows.
Adonnenniel rolled her eyes. "It was kind of obvious, Estela. He looked chastised and everyone else started cracking up. I know an insult when I hear one, regardless of what language you say it in. So will you teach me?"
Estela grinned. "Okay, young Padawan, let us begin your lesson."
So with that, she spent the next hour teaching Adonnenniel Elvish insults. It was an amusing experience to say the least. Adonnenniel's pronunciation was surprisingly good, but her ability to memorize and repeat the phrases proved dismal.
"Ugh," Adonnenniel groaned. "I can't memorize all of these words! They're like a jumble of letters that won't stick in my head. Plus they just sound so…foreign, you know?"
Estela rolled her eyes.
It proved to be a difficult task, but after several nights Adonnenniel had effectively mastered several insults in Sindarin. After they stayed up talking for a while each night, they were utterly exhausted and always fell asleep immediately.
And that was how they spent the remainder of their days in Lothlorien. With archery, strenuous sword fighting, interesting dinner conversations, and learning to speak Sindarin on Estela's part. Before they knew it, nearly a full month had passed.
Estela remembered Legolas' words from earlier. I was speaking with Aragorn before we arrived in Lothlorien, and we agreed to linger here for no longer than two fortnights. Their time in Lothlorien was coming to an end.
Coming Up Next!
-Some major embarrassment on Estela's part!
-A major plot twist! *insert evil laugh here*
-A Twilight reference! May or may not be complementary!
Another Author's Note: I love Dr. Horrible! I just had to quote him ^.^ If you have some free time or if you're sitting at home with nothing to do, then go to youtube and watch it. It's so worth forty something minutes of your life :)