"Tilda, pinch me," Angeli ordered calmly.
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
Tilda pinched her and Angeli felt it.
This was real.
"Sigrid," Angeli continued softly. "Take Tilda back to the house and tell your dad to come here."
Sigrid knew better then to argue, so she hurried off with Tilda.
"Calling back up, Angeli?" Galadriel asked. "Did you like my little appearance a few weeks ago?"
Angeli stood ridgid and did her best to ignore her mother.
"Angeli, what's-" Bard stopped beside Angeli and stared at Galariel. "Wrong," he whispered.
"She back," Angeli muttered back.
"Bard," Galadriel murmured, narrowing her eyes.
"Galadriel," Bard answered stifly.
"Oh Angeli, I've missed you so much!" Galadriel turned her attention to her daughter. She stepped forward, just as Bard stepped in front of Angeli.
"Stay away from her!" he whispered, shielding Angeli from her mother.
"She is my daughter!" Galadriel protested. "You were nothing but a pitiful townsfolk protecting her until I could come and bring her back home!"
"Do not talk about Bard that way!" Angeli pushed past Bard so that she was face-to-face with her mother.
"Angeli..." Bard warned.
Galadriel rolled her eyes. "I only speak the truth, nettë, and now that I've found you, it's time for us to go back to Lorien."
"Home?" Angeli spat in disgust. "As I recall, you were the one who sent me to Rivendell when I was a mere three-hundred years old," she narrowed her eyes. "Why do you pick now to send me home, emel?"
"I have seen the errors of my ways, and I wish for you to come home so that we may be a happy family," Galadriel explained. "You would be the princess of Lorien again. Do you not want that?"
"No. I do not wish to return to a place where I was not wanted," Angeli replied cooly.
Galadriel gasped in outrage, but then she returned to her strangly calm self.
"I know this must be over-wellming after all this time of staying with him," Galadriel murmured softly. "So I will give you a week to make your decision and pack."
"She does not need-"
"Thank you, mother," Angeli interrupted Bard's protest.
Galadriel nodded.
It's cute; what you two have, her voice sounded in Angeli's head.
Angeli lowered her eyes and her cheeks became a light shade of pink.
I do not know what you are talking about, she told the voice back. There was laughter, then nothing, as Galadriel turned and began to walk away.
"One week!" she shouted over her shoulder.
Then she was gone.
0o0
"What the hell was that?" Bard demanded.
"You just gave her the liberty to come back here!"
"What was I supposed to do, Bard?" Angeli retorted. "Say no and let her come back here day after day until I finally gave in and left with her?"
"And when she does come back?" Bard's voice became a whisper. "What will you say then?"
Angeli's blue eyes locked with Bard's brown eyes.
"If you wish to know whether I am leaving or not, say it out right," Angeli murmured, suddenly wanting to know what he thought.
Bard lowered his eyes and was silent for a few moments. Then he raised his eyes again.
"Are you leaving?"
Angeli felt her heart beat speed up. "No," her voice came out scratchy. "No," she repeated. "I would never leave. I love-" she stopped and saw Bard's eyes widen.
"-this place too much," she finished quickly.
Before Bard could respond, Tilda came rushing out of the house.
"I-I heard mumbles an-and raised voices an-and Angeli are you okay?" the poor girl was trembling.
"I'm fine," Angeli responded calmly.
"Good. Because I'm not," Tilda began sobbing and Angeli pulled her close.
"Who was she?" Tilda whispered.
"No one you should be concerned about," Angeli murmured rubbing Tilda's back. "She will not hurt you." Although Angeli herself wasn't sure how far Galadriel would go to get what she wanted.
"I will not allow her to hurt you," she vowed.
Translations:
Nettë- daughter
Emel- mother