Disclaimer: See previous chapters
Time frame: Prior to Elrond and Celebrian beginning to court. It was said that Elrond loved Celebrian at their first meeting. It is my belief that she also fell in love with him at first sight. Yet even so, it took Elrond something like a thousand years to actually speak of his love for her. So, this can take place at any time between then, excluding when Celebrian was out of Rivendell, and the Last Alliance.
A/N: Hey guys...long time no update, no? *sigh* I shan't regale you all with my reasons. I've just...been busy, and inspiration-less (for the most part). But I'm currently caught in the middle of the huge snow storm gripping the central portion of the United States. And I was just like "SNOW! I have to write something..." And so I did. And I think I just may be getting my groove back. Yay!
Thank you, as usual, to all of you who favorited and/or alerted! But special thanks goes to LalaithElerrina, Crookneck, AnneWithane, Greenleaf's Daughter, cai-ann, and last but most CERTAINLY not least, Ithilethiel Peredhel for reviewing. And guys, this story is only four away from having fifty reviews! Do...do you think you guys could possibly get it there? Because that would be awesome. And I would love you all sooo very much! (not that I don't already, of course!) Haha. Alright, and now that this A/N is nearly as long as the fic itself...:) Enjoy!
~Snowfall~
The snow fell thick and fast from a pale, washed-out gray sky, filling the still air with drifting flurries. Silence hung over the valley, hushing even the sound of the cascading waterfalls as if in reverence for the crystal flakes tumbling end over end from the heavens. Even the wind itself, which was often heard whispering through the valley and dancing between the steep ravine wall-faces, was still, allowing the snowflakes to drift down on their own course toward the earth far below.
The ground was dusted in a brilliant white blanket, pristine and perfect. The rich green of pines and evergreen shrubs peered through the gathering snow, standing out like stark shadows against the unblemished white, and every so often a splash of red would mark a holly bush or a winter-blooming vine. And all the while the trees stood straight and tall, lifting their barren fingers to the gray sky in a parody of worship, snow gathering on their slim branches and nestling in the crooks of their trunks.
It seemed that only a single living being moved through the slumbering world, her fur-lined boots leaving hardly a mark in the deepening snow as she flitted through the garden. Yet it seemed as if, behind her, the world seemed to awaken. A red-crested cardinal shook his feathers in a nearby cedar, sending snow tumbling all around him as he puffed his breast up to keep warm. Out from beneath a nearby log crept a small rabbit, snow white and bushy-tailed, nose twitching madly. A squirrel chittered happily from the high branches of one of the barren trees, and a sparrow twittered back. And all about her the snow swirled, as if coming alive at her presence.
The snow settled onto her white cloak, as well as her hood, which she had pulled up over her hair. Yet the cusp of the hood was not drawn so far forward that it protected her face from the gently falling flakes, and her long, dark lashes were dusted with white. Her cheeks were a light pink from the cold, but there was a bright, vibrant sparkle in her eyes, which were as blue as the ice that sat at the center of the deepest pool.
Just for an instant, she felt a strange prickling at the base of her neck, as if someone were watching her. Whirling, she glanced up at the grand house rising not far away, her eyes latching onto a window set on the second story and nearly half-way along the wall. She saw nothing, nothing but the faint fluttering of a curtain as a breath of air caught it and, almost as if out of the corner of her perception, a faint flash of silver and ebony. But then it was gone, and she felt that she must have imagined it.
Even so, she blushed as she turned away.