Enjoy! Author's notes at the end.
Tinwe and Legolas woke to the sound of music outside of their tent. Tinwe sat up with a smile, remembering the last time she had heard this music.
"Come on, sleepy head," she said to Legolas as she threw off the sheets and stood up. "Time to get dressed and join the festivities!"
"Dressed in what?" Legolas asked. He had not realized he was expected to change, and did not have anything appropriate with him.
"In this," Tinwe said, throwing a bright blue bundle at him. Looking at it, he realized it was the same style robes as the nomads wore.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, standing up and looking at the outfit more closely. It had fine embroidery of silver all over the thin cloth.
"We were given quite a wardrobe to borrow while we are here," Tinwe said, going behind a folding partition with her own bundle of cloth. "It will be fun."
"If you say so," Legolas said, eyeing the robes with some skepticism.
Soon enough Legolas was dressed in his new robes, which he found surprisingly comfortable. He had also uncovered a silver dagger in the bundle he had been given, which he put in his belt as he looked in the mirror. It was not at all what he was used to seeing when he looked in a mirror, but it wasn't as bad as he had expected.
"My, don't you look dashing?" Tinwe said from behind him. Legolas turned and saw Tinwe dressed in a loose blue dress several shades darker than his robes. It had a tall collar and she wore a blue and silver scarf covering her hair, with a gauzy veil attached.
"By now they don't expect me to wear the veil, but the outfit isn't quite right without the scarf," she said, straightening it on her head. Legolas was speechless, looking her up and down.
"Why didn't you try and get something like that for your wedding dress?" he asked when he found his voice again. "No wonder they thought you were a goddess, if you kept dressing like that."
"It would have caused quite the sensation at home, wearing such a foreign design," Tinwe said, smiling at her husband. "But thank you for the complement."
"Is there a reason they gave me a dagger?" Legolas asked, lifting his arm so he could point it out among the folds of fabric.
"Just for ceremonial purposes," Tinwe said, coming over and straightening his collar. "It goes with the festival clothing."
"Well if they make us dress like this, it must be quite the festival."
"Oh, it will be. You will have to tell your father he's been outdone. And this is when they had less than a day to prepare."
"Shall we?" Legolas said, holding out his arm. Tinwe took it with a grin.
"We shall."
As soon as they stepped from the tent, there was a cheer that went up among the villagers. Tinwe just beamed, waving at them happily. Legolas noticed that she wore a great deal more jewelry than she had ever worn before. Apart from her wedding ring, the mithril necklace, and bracelet from him that she always wore, she also was adorned with numerous bangles and silver rings.
"Are you wearing earrings?" he asked, noticing silver shining in her hair as she turned her head.
"It's an ear cuff," she said, pushing her hair back to show him the dangling chains attached to her ear. "Isn't it great?"
"You have certainly gone native," Legolas whispered with a smile as they approached a long low table adorned with mountains of food on decorative platters. "For nomads, they have a great deal of luxury goods and a lot more food than I expected."
"Did Wealdul show you the camels?" Tinwe asked as they were waved over to the far end of the table by Wealdul. "They use them to haul most of these things. Horses would never make it across the desert carrying such weight, even the desert horses."
"Tinwe! As lovely as ever," Chief Darweal said with a smile, kissing Tinwe's hand as he helped her sit on his left hand side. "I have missed seeing your beautiful face sitting next to me at meals."
"And I have missed your handsome face as well, my friend," she said as the chief sat, motioning for the rest of the table to take their seats. The most important people sat at the chief's table, while others sat wherever they wished around the area.
"Do not tease me Tinwe," the chief said wagging his finger at Tinwe. "You are only saying that because it is your handwork." He indicated the white scars that ran across the side of his face. "Besides, I'm sure your husband has been a much better substitute."
"Perhaps, but no one can replace you. I must be the luckiest elleth in the world, surrounded by the three handsomest faces Middle Earth has ever seen," she said, smiling at the chief, Wealdul, and Legolas.
"Be careful with the flattery, Tinwe," Atiya said from Wealdul's right. "It will give them big heads."
Tinwe laughed at the expression on Wealdul's face. It felt so good to be back.
Dinner was a spectacular event. Tinwe was laughing and sharing stories with her friends throughout the whole thing. She noticed Legolas was not entirely comfortable with his surroundings, but she helped ease his anxiety by piling exotic foods on his plate. Atiya helped as well, chatting with him whenever Tinwe got deep into a conversation with Wealdul and his father. For that, Tinwe was grateful.
As dessert was served, consisting primarily of sweet exotic fruits, Wealdul and his father exchanged a look, and the former just sat quietly, grinning at Tinwe.
"What?" she asked suspiciously, shaking her sleeves off her hands, making her wrists jangle with her numerous bracelets.
"We have decided that you two must be married properly."
"Properly?" Tinwe said with a laugh. Legolas looked at Wealdul, brow furrowed.
"What do you mean properly?" he asked warily.
"You may have been married according to your customs," Wealdul went on as his father smiled. "But you have not been married according to ours."
"We can't do that," Tinwe said, looking between the two men. "We cannot possibly have a proper wedding without our families here."
"Not a problem, we will figure it out," Wealdul said, waving his hand dismissively.
"What exactly does a wedding entail according to your traditions?" Legolas asked. This made Atiya smile widely.
"Oh Legolas, I think you will just have to experience it to find out," she said, Wealdul nodding his agreement.
"It is a glorious event," he added. "A week long celebration."
"A week?!" Legolas asked, looking around at Tinwe. Tinwe just shrugged.
"I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Tinwe said, turning to the chief.
"Since we were not invited to your wedding, no, you do not," he said.
"I am sorry, but by the time the invitation arrived and you got to Mirkwood, the wedding would be over," Tinwe said apologetically. "I do wish you could have been there."
"And now we will be," Wealdul said happily. "The entire village is looking forward to it."
"Should I be worried?" Legolas muttered in Tinwe's ear.
"Yes," Tinwe murmured back. "You most definitely should."
"So what exactly are we doing today?"
"Traditionally, the groom's family goes to ask for the bride's hand, with the groom's father leading negotiations regarding the marriage contract. Since your father isn't here, I will be substituting." Feisal seemed incredibly pleased with himself for being given the honor of acting as Legolas's father. "Generally you would not be present for these negotiations, but since you do not know the customs, we are going to let you observe the process."
"It's a good thing this is not how elven marriages work," Legolas said, adjusting the cloth Feisal had put on his head, which was held on by a rope made of camel hair. "My father would not have agreed to negotiations at all."
"Does your father not like Tinwe?" Feisal asked, apparently shocked by the idea.
"No, they get along quite well now that they know each other better," Legolas assured him. "But she is a bit high-spirited and he was wary of her at the start."
"Ah, but you could ask for no better wife than her," he said with a smile. "Now come, it is time to go see the chief."
Chief Darweal was acting as a substitute for Tinwe's father. He had not given Tinwe a choice in the matter, not that she would have wanted any other to have the honor. So Legolas, Feisal, and a large number of other men who had volunteered to take part in the process entered the chief's tent, where Chief Darweal, Wealdul, and a group of their male relatives sat, watching the newcomers.
"Sit," the chief commanded in the common tongue. The tent was large, but it was still a tight fit for all the men to sit comfortably on the floor. Legolas sat to Feisal's right as the process began.
Legolas quickly lost track of what was going on. It started out quite simply, with Feisal asking for the chief's permission to have his foster son Legolas marry Tinwe. The chief asked a series of questions about Legolas's virtues, which Feisal answered in flowery language that Legolas found flattering if a little far-fetched, and then they began negotiating the bride price. It was here that Legolas became lost, as the negotiations became heated and both men gestured wildly, egged on by family members, and they both slipped into their native tongue so Legolas could no longer understand what was happening.
"It is a good thing I will not actually be required to pay the bride price," Feisal said when the negotiations finished and the group sat drinking mint tea. "The chief would not accept anything less than three camels, two horses, and my weight in silver."
"Is that a lot?" Legolas asked, not sure how these things worked. The nomads appeared wealthy, but Feisal's weight in silver sounded like a lot to him.
"Enough for four wives and more," Feisal said.
"Why so much?" Legolas asked in shock.
"Truthfully, he could have asked for a lot more. Being immortal, taking Tinwe away from his family is equivalent to taking dozens of daughters away who could otherwise be used as laborers. The fact that she is so beautiful and skilled adds to the price as well."
"I'm not sure I like the idea of buying a wife," Legolas said with a frown. "Especially when she is not here to give her opinion."
"It is the way it has been for centuries," Feisal said with a shrug. "It has worked well for us. It is not just the joining of two people, but the joining of two families. Family comes first."
"I can relate to that," Legolas said, remembering his father's original reservations about Tinwe. "Now what?"
"Now we return home. For the next couple days the women will prepare Tinwe for the ceremony at the end of the week, while we prepare the village."
"So when do I get to see Tinwe again?"
"After the ceremony at the end of the week," Feisal said with a smile. "Though I am not sure if the chief will hold to that rule."
"Alright then, just tell me what I need to do and I will do it," Legolas said, feeling like a week away from Tinwe was going to be draining. He was still not used to this new environment, and had been stripped of his last ties to his own world.
"I cannot wait to see Legolas's face," Tinwe said with a laugh as she sat very still in a chair, surrounded by her adopted female relatives.
"He will not be able to take his eyes off of you," Atiya assured her.
"I think it will be from shock more than anything else," Tinwe said, looking down at her hands. Her arms were exposed up to her shoulders and her legs were bare up to her knees as the women around her drew beautiful patterns on her limbs with henna. Because she was an elf, the women had abandoned many of the traditional designs in favor of leaves and elvish writing, though good luck symbols were still in abundance. Atiya had been the primary artist, outlining the designs she thought were best and questioning Tinwe on how to write elvish phrases that she deemed appropriate.
"Do you think you'll be able to sit still long enough for this to dry?" Atiya teased, smiling up at Tinwe.
"It will be a challenge, but I think I can do it," Tinwe said with a laugh. "Just make sure I don't fall asleep and move unconsciously."
"Do you like it?" Atiya asked, gesturing at the designs being drawn all over Tinwe. The elleth grinned.
"Of course I do. You have really outdone yourself Atiya. Who is making my dress? I hope you aren't, you have already exerted yourself far more than you should at this stage in your pregnancy."
"My mother and sisters are working on it right now," Atiya assured her. "It will be unparalleled."
"I don't want to make you all work so hard on this," Tinwe said, a concerned look on her face. "It is really not necessary."
"Oh, but it is!" Atiya said, sitting down across from Tinwe to rest. "You may not have been born here, but you are one of the tribe. And you have done so much for us, everyone is more than happy to help out."
"I feel like I can never truly thank you for all you have done for me. It is a blessing to have such wonderful friends as you."
The next few days were a flurry of activity. While Tinwe remained hidden in a small tent beside the chief's, Legolas was busy helping wherever he was needed. Colorful fabrics were strung between tents, the smell of incense hung heavy over the camp, and lamps shone bright through the night. Food was being prepared continuously, to feed the workers and to be served at the celebration at the end of the week.
Legolas was introduced to another aspect of the weeklong celebration while he was helping to lay carpets across the desert where the feasting would primarily take place. As he stood upright after laying a carpet down, he noticed a group of giggling young women watching him, standing not far away. When they saw him notice them, one girl came up to him and held out her hand, saying something in her native tongue.
"What did she say?" Legolas asked one of the men nearby, Feisal's cousin Siad. The man just smiled and continued his work.
"She is asking for payment for decorating your bride," he said as he straightened one of the carpets.
"Payment?" Legolas asked. "What am I suppose to give her?"
"Whatever you want. Food, trinkets, whatever you have to offer."
Legolas, however, didn't really have anything on him. Searching through his robes, he found a copper ring and some glass beads.
"Here," Legolas said, handing the copper ring to the girl. "You might have to return it to its owner later though."
Whether the girl had understood or not, she bowed and scurried back to the group, giggling. Legolas was about to return to work when another stepped forward, holding out her hand. This time, Legolas gave her several of the glass beads. Before the last had left, another stepped forward. Legolas was just wondering how long this was going to go on, since he was running out of gifts, when the third girl spoke in the common tongue.
"Can I have a lock of your hair?" she asked boldly. Smiling, remembering how Lady Galadriel had given Gimli three of her hairs when he asked, he felt compelled to grant the girl's request. Pulling the silver knife from his belt, he cut off a few strands of hair for her. He sincerely hoped that all of them wouldn't want his hair. He didn't fancy cutting his hair short just in time for his wedding.
As he was thinking this, a fourth girl stepped forward, and simply tapped her cheek, looking up at him with dark eyes shining with mischief. Legolas raised his eyebrow at her, but she was persistent, and tapped her cheek again. He rewarded her boldness by bending down and kissing her cheek. She grinned up at him and said the equivalent of "thank you" in her native tongue before she strutted back to the rest of the girls, who were giggling harder than ever. Legolas just smiled and returned to work.
This is largely based on the bedouin weddings that have been going on in Arabia for centuries. I combined aspects from different tribes, so don't shoot me for being somewhat inaccurate. I just had so many people excited about the wedding, when I barely talked about it, that I thought "What the hell" and decided to have another one for you all. Like it or hate it, please review!
I am really trying to get this done before the semester starts again, but I don't know if I'll succeed. I managed to finish another story that I haven't published about Thranduil, which is sort of a prequel to this one. I will post that when I am done with this one.