Well, this took much longer than it needed to. After being sick for a week, then travelling around every weekend, I finally found the time to finish this chapter and I'm pretty happy with it. The next one will be up in about a week as I have two CPTs that are due on the same day to finish. Hope you enjoy this chapter and feel free to review.
Lilly stifled a screech upon realizing someone was behind her and spun around intent on cursing out the person who had snuck up on her. The person it turned out to be a tall dark haired man with wide-set shoulders.
The man had reached a hand to steady the off-balanced Lilly, but had thought better of it so it hung in the awkward air between the two. His other hand clutched the red bound book that he stared sheepishly at.
"I am sorry, my lady," He started quickly. "I had thought you had heard me enter. I did not mean to frighten you." His sincerity was not lost on Lilly whose anger was beginning to fade. Having three older brothers had stopped her from being able to stay upset over petty things. He could have at least bumped into a chair or something.
"I hope I have not offended you."Aware of Lilly's ire, the man offered her the book which she begrudgingly accepted. "My name is Boromir, son of Denethor." Lilly nodded in response; it had become easier in the past months to hide her surprise at meeting book characters.
"I have heard of you before Boromir son of Denethor. My name is Lilly, daughter of…" Lilly paused for a moment. "Well, no one you would know, really." Lilly winced inwardly and mentally berated herself. Of all of the stupid, cliché things to say it just had to be that.
Boromir looked uncertainly at Lilly and moved to inspect the shelf of books behind her. "Lord Elrond has quite the collection." With the ghost of a smile on his lips he turned to Lilly. "This library is much more organised than the one in Minas Tirith, I am afraid."
Lilly smiled, "Are you looking for something in particular?" Though the library was large, it was not the only one in Rivendell.
A slightly embarrassed look crossed Boromir's face, "Ah, not exactly. I was in truth looking for the gardens and I seemed to have taken a wrong turn somewhere."
Lilly tried to hold in a small laugh, "Getting lost in Rivendell is much easier than it seems. The architecture is beautiful truly. However, it can start to look the same when you aren't used to it."
Boromir smiled in agreement. "Would you like me to bring you to the gardens?" Lilly offered longing for the chance to speak to someone for the first time in months who was not an ethereally perfect elf.
"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you-"
"Preventing me from reading a large book with tiny writing isn't an inconvenience. It's more of a blessing really." Lilly turned and placed the book on a lower shelf. The elves would not be pleased to see her purposely put a book back in the wrong place, but she figured she could come back for it before anyone could notice.
"Come along then." Lilly brushed past him to walk through the sun filled halls of Rivendell. She led him through the labyrinth of columns, statues, and rooms that ended in one of the larger gardens that was filled with autumn blooms.
Boromir's face lit as he took in the beauty of the garden. He turned to Lilly, "Would you allow me to keep you from reading a while longer?"
Lilly smiled and accepted the arm Boromir offered to escort her around the garden. Today has gone from boring to oddly pleasant. She lightly gripped his arm as she had done with Arwen and Rirosseth in the past. Though I really could do without all the touching.
"Have you been in Rivendell long, my lady?" Boromir's inquiry broke the awkward tension that had begun to form as they walked together.
"Nearly a year now." The two rounded a corner that led to a grouping of elfish statues that Lilly knew to be old but were well-maintained and surrounding by pale pink winter roses.
"Forgive me for being so forward my lady, but where are you from? With your hair I had thought it could be Gondor, but your accent…it's strange." God damn the Canadian accent, Lilly thought as she struggled to find a response that would not confuse the medieval man.
"Ah, far away for certain. I can't really say…" She squinted in the bright sun as she tried to think of a lie that would be most believable. "It's supposed to be a secret, actually. Diplomatic reasons and all."
Boromir nodded, "You must be considered important where you are from then to be sent as a diplomat."
Lilly shrugged, "Or expendable, depending on the expected outcome." Boromir paused for a moment before understanding her joke. "The council meeting, for the most part, is why I am here now." She added, slightly embarrassed at her feeble attempt at humour.
A look of confusion passed Boromir's face. "I had thought the Council was to be of the utmost secrecy." Lilly nodded slowly realising her mistake. Elrond is going to string me up by my toes if he finds out I just openly talked about his super-secret tea party.
"Well yes, however, I know of it and you know of it so it is truly no harm done." Lilly wanted to hit herself because of her own stupidity. I thought staying with the Elves had cured me of my foot-in-mouth disease. "Really no reason to mention it at all to anyone or Lord Elrond."
It took a few seconds of silence, before she realised Boromir was laughing quietly at her. "Of course my lady, I swear I shall never speak of it. But please tell me, do you always speak so rashly?"
Lilly felt her temper flare, but knew he did not mean his laughter to have cruel intent. She sighed deeply, "I'm afraid so; it's a habit my mother nor even the Elves of Rivendell could cure."
Boromir laughed and Lilly felt at ease. Behind the stoic face of the Captain of Gondor and heir to the steward was a funny but no less serious man. Lilly found him much easier to talk to than most of the Elves, whose obvious perfection could be quite distracting in every day conversation.
He told Lilly of the White City, but kept away from hevy topics and stayed mostly with his memories of his childhood with his brother. Lilly in turn told him of her upbringing; he had been surprised to hear that she had spent just as much time hunting as her brothers.
"Of course," she added onto her previous story of her middle brother catching his own hat while fishing. "I stopped spending so much time out of doors a few years ago." She felt saddened at the memory. "I had to start focussing on my studies." Of course all that effort seems to be thrown out of the window now.
"The land you come from sounds very strange, welcoming, but still very different." Lilly felt the pangs of homesickness she had not felt in a while as she reminisced about her family. She changed the subject to stop her endless thoughts of her family.
"Do you read very much, Lord Boromir?" He looked slightly embarrassed at the question. "Not as much as I would like, I'm afraid." The two neared the far side of the garden where the largest of Rivendell's libraries stood. Lilly knew it to be where the shards of Narsil were kept and felt wary of an incident with Aragorn happening.
"Swordplay and battle strategy always seemed more important to me as child," Boromir continued unaware of the nervousness that had begun spread through Lilly. "The threat of Mordor was always close at hand and I have found the arts to be beautiful, it is much easier to kill an orc with a sword than a poem."
Lilly felt some of her nerves dissipate as she laughed, "Well, that really depends on the quality of the poem." The two laughed heartily as they approached the library where the grandiose silenced them; the solemnness of this place always made Lilly feel like a child wandering through a mausoleum.
Unlike most of the buildings in Rivendell parts of the library were fully walled in. This was the largest of the libraries that neighboured Lord Elrond's own courters and Lilly knew to hold the oldest tomes and artifacts in probably all of Middle Earth, let alone all of the rest of Rivendell.
Among the ancient treasures, artifacts, and pricelessly old books laid the Shards of Narsil on a dark velvet sheet. The fresco that stood proudly in front of it looked as if it had been painted newly the day before though Lilly knew it had been done over a thousand years ago.
The famous sword shards had drawn Lilly in like a moth to a flame the first time she had entered. Narsil looked fresh-forged and like it had just come out of the fire the day before. It was a remarkable piece; Lilly did not think there was a sword back home that was that old and that well preserved.
In the dimming light, Lilly entered the library with Boromir who, like her, was drawn to the fresco. Arm and arm with Lilly still he examined the oversized depiction of the famous scene. His focus on it was interrupted by the presence of Aragorn who had looked up from his book as they entered.
"You are no Elf." Boromir declared upon seeing him. "I had not thought I was would see so many men when I arrived here."
"Men of the South are welcome here." Aragorn said in reply as he observed the two. Lilly felt his judgmental stare hit her. If it wasn't for Arwen, I would have gone off this guy so long ago. Her tolerance for him boiled like a pot over fire.
"We all have things we must do that may only come to pass with the help of Elves." Lilly fixed Aragorn with a glare of her own. Stop reading your book and go to talk to your fiancée, you big honour-bound jerk.
Feeling the tension in the room rise Boromir politely removed Lilly's arm from his to examine the Shards of Narsil. "The Shards of Narsil…the blade that cut the thing from Sauron's own hand."
Just as he reached for the separated hilt Lilly made a squeak of discontent that caused him to pull his hand back. "Not to be rude, but that sword is over two thousand years old and means more to Elrond than my own life." Boromir looked at Lilly in understanding that turned into annoyance.
He looked toward the sword and declared that, "It is no more than a broken end." He stormed from the room and Lilly could feel the anger toward the Line of Kings roll of him as he brushed by her in leaving.
How I it possible that I am so terrible at making friends? Lilly thought as she rubbed her temples. Aragorn rose and joined her by the dais. Clasping her on the shoulder he told her in a soft voice, "It is not in your role to interfere, but to observe. Do not concern yourself with the spoiled Children of Men, Lilly." He patted her on the shoulder once more then left the library leaving Lilly to stew in her thoughts.
The following morning Lilly awoke earlier than was normal for her and prepared for the day by herself. She technically had not been invited to take part in the council, however Gandalf had made it clear to her that whatever important events happened she was supposed to take part in them.
After washing with the stale water from her basin that had sat there through the night, she had dressed herself and skipped eating to go speak with Gandalf. Breaking in on a secret meeting sounds like a great time, Lilly thought as she hurried toward Gandalf's spacious rooms. However arriving with someone else will make it a little less nerve-wracking.
Gandalf's rooms were similar to others in Rivendell in that they were open air, however they were more spacious but simpler than Lilly's own. Lilly found the old wizard sitting on a chair puffing away at his pipe.
"Ah, good morning, Lilly!" The old man greeted around his pipe startling Lilly; he had not even turned his head in the slightest toward her. "Come along, then. Sit down." He waved his pipe toward the chair on the opposite side of the small table at which he was sitting.
"Good morning to you as well Gandalf." Lilly sat the table that had a few small plates of fruit, cheese, and bread. She could not help the loud growl that came from her stomach. Gandalf looked at her pointedly and gestured for her to have something.
As Lilly nibbled on a small bun she thought of how to phrase her proposition. "I know there is to be a council meeting today…" Gandalf nodded as he puffed thoughtfully on his pipe, making small grey rings. "However, Lord Elrond has neither invited nor even mentioned it to me and I know you said I was to take part in all important events," Lilly shifted as she knew she had begun to ramble. "So I was hoping that perhaps…"
"I could help you attend?" The old man chuckled. "I had believed that to be the plan all along." Lilly felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. "My dear girl, Lord Elrond believes that your fore knowledge of events should be used to prevent any sort of tragedy from happening. I, myself, believe that any events to be changed should be selected by you at your own caution." He took a long puff from his pipe. "We are in a very delicate situation, I am afraid, and Lord Elrond believes that keeping you out of it would be the safest course."
Lilly brushed bread crumbs nervously off of her dress. "And what do you believe, Gandalf?" He hmmed and tapped his pipe out in a small, white glass bowl. "I believe that you were brought to us by the Valar for a reason and I shall not let that reason go to waste because of one stubborn Elf." Gandalf smiled warmly at her and Lilly could not help but smile back.
After finishing off their breakfast together, Gandalf rose and offered her arm toward Lilly. "I believe it is just about time for us to join the Council of Elrond."