"Now you look ready! Hurry and show the counsel what you are made of!" Erulassë beamed at her new work.
"Are you sure I should do this?"
"You do not want Legolas Prince to be waiting"
Adonnenniel smiled and nodded before giving her friend a hug. She raced back down to the main floor, hoping that there was still time before she was extremely late. Adonnenniel stopped when she saw Legolas in his usual silver dressings, looking just as sleek and elegant. She looked back down to her normal green dress that she would wear to represent her colors at home before taking a couple of steps toward Legolas before he turned around.
"You are wearing your home colors" Legolas pointed out before he smiled. "I love it. It reminds me of the first time that I ever laid eyes on you"
Adonnenniel beamed as she heard the approval of his voice before he reached out and grabbed onto her hand, leading her to the counsel room. When the doors opened, she flowed in with her head held up high that she never have thought to have as much confidence as she does. Everyone in the counsel seemed to have stopped muttering and stare at the Princess walking toward their long table. Thranduil was talking to one of his counsel members before double taking at what Adonnenniel was wearing, a slow and proud smile crossed his face as they finally made their way to their seats.
"That is an abomination!" Hûredhiel screamed out, so angry that she stood up from her seat. "You dare come into this counsel wearing that! Go back to your bed chambers and dress properly at once! We will not have you disgrace the Royal Family any more than you have already done! You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Usually, Hûredhiel's scolding would've made Adonnenniel drop her head down and try to find a way to become invisible. This time seemed different as even when she sat down, she never let go of Legolas' hand and never even brought her head down. Her head remained level as she continued to look straight like as if no one was trying to embarrass her. In fact, the only person it truly humiliated was the King.
"I believe it is you that should be ashamed of yourself" Thranduil's voice trembled with anger. "Talking to a Princess like that. You should be wise enough to know that she can still call upon a demand once her brother comes into these borders"
"I apologize" Hûredhiel bowed her head as she lowered herself back down into her seat.
"Do not apologize to me" Thranduil said. "You should apologize to Adonnenniel. She is not like most women, you know? She is smart and will always speak her mind"
"When the time comes for her to be Queen" Legolas continued. "She will have no problem in telling me what is bothering her in these borders"
"Speaking of which" Thranduil turned to Adonnenniel. "I believe you said that you would like to help us in our time of need. I want to let you know that I am very thankful in what you are about to do. You know that we can wait for your brother if you are not ready. There is no need to rush your abilities"
"There is no time to wait" Adonnenniel shook her head.
"I believe that we should wait for your brother"
"I can do it"
"I know you can. That is what worries me" Legolas placed a hand on her shoulder. "You will strain yourself"
"I will be careful"
"Can you minimize the vials?" Legolas turned to his father. "So that we can be sure to not tire her out?"
"What are you doing?" Adonnenniel asked.
"Making sure you don't strain yourself, Adonnenniel, I know what you intend to do. Filling up all of the vials in one day is dangerous. You could be confined to a bed if you use so much energy" Legolas warned her.
"Your people could be in danger if I do not do this all today" Adonnenniel tried to reason with him.
"And you will be so weak that it will take months for you to recover" Legolas pointed out.
"I can do this"
"Not today"
"Fine" Adonnenniel sighed. "I will do as you ordered"
The long table nearly looked bare after how many vials Legolas had ordered to take away from the table. She wanted to argue but, for once, Adonnenniel held her tongue and let Legolas take the lead. Even though she was unsatisfied and knew she could fill up more vials with water, she knew Legolas' true intentions of taking away that many vials. He didn't want to see her hurt just as much as she didn't want to see him returned injured a few days ago.
"We are ready" Legolas turned to Adonnenniel. "There may be little right now but you will have more energy for tomorrow. I hope you do understand why I am truly doing this. Your health is of great value to me. It is not because of your brother coming to help us. I am doing this because I am worried about how far you may take yourself. I have seen pride take the hearts of my dearest friends and I do not want it to take yours. Once I am convinced that you can handle as much as you say you can, and then I will let you. I know you have been trying really hard to have my people accept you but to make you sickly weak is something I will not bear. This is not the way that I will let you win their hearts over. You have already proved many wrong about what the sea elves are like. You just do not see it yet"
Adonnenniel felt his hand slip into hers; she looked up to his dark, dark blue eyes and almost fell into them. She could tell that he cared deeply for her and she cared for him in return. The strong and powerful feeling overwhelmed her to the point that she was happy to have met him the way she did. She was truly fortunate on how he let his heart open up to love her.
"I trust your decision" Adonnenniel said before taking a step toward the empty vial. She waved her arms out and felt the magic run through her veins as water floated up from the bowl near her, manipulating it to cover the entire ceiling before sending them down to the vials.
Poster! Hello everybody! Usually for my stories I tend to make a poster along with it and might have already noticed the image difference for this story! If you guys want to see how it actually looks then go to my homepage, copy, and paste the link on the bottom and you should be able to see it! Thanks for all of the support and help that people gave me throughout this story (you know who you guys are!) and continue to read this to the end! Phoebe!
