Chapter 28
The Princess feigned an illness; she had suddenly become all dizzy and faint, and had managed to escape the question. Currently, she was relaxing in a nice warm bath and surrounded by colourful flower petals and the scent of Lavender and Sweet Pea oils. She had washed all the dirt from the Warg struggle out of her hair, along with leaves and pieces of bark and just lay in the bath to soak and relax.
Already she missed Legolas. She could feel the sadness of being away from him deep in her heart, and it ached so badly! Adrianna sighed before stepping out of the tub and wrapping a towel around her body. She combed her hair and prepared herself for bed before tucking herself deep under the covers to get warm.
But she was so lonely that she was cold.
She had even tried to fool herself that a pillow was the elf, and held it tightly in her arms as though it were his strong, warm chest. But although she didn't feel alone in the room, she felt alone in her heart and it saddened her greatly.
He would be gone for a month at the very least. Why didn't she go with him? She scolded herself for allowing him to go alone and she thumped the pillow in anger. If something happened to him then she would never forgive herself!
She moped around The Glade that next morning, and had only attended breakfast in the Hall with her father and her brother, who thankfully said nothing more about where the wedding would be held. The Princess even went to the library to distract her thoughts, and once finding a book that she had loved when she was a child, had taken it up the winding stairs of the hollow tree and out onto her stargazing point.
A very large golden eagle was sitting in the nest, and Adrianna acknowledged the great bird with a low curtsey before taking a seat on the ground and opening the book at the very beginning. She read almost too halfway before deciding to start writing the invitations.
She bid the eagle a farewell before leaving the stargazing point through the small door and descending the stairs into the Royal housing. She entered her bedchambers and crossed her neat room towards her vanity where she pulled the lilac chair out and took a seat. Adrianna sighed before reaching for the top draw and pulling out pieces of blank parchment, a beautiful white feathered quill and a small pot of ink.
The Princess adored her graceful, cursive script and it would always please her when her tutor complemented her and not her brother, whose scrawl was elegant in itself. She addressed six letters for; Frodo, Sam and Rosie, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn and Arwen and finally Gimli before informing them of her and Legolas' engagement. Upon writing the seventh letter (for Gandalf) she included a message to request his presence in The Glade of Tarasara within the next few weeks.
Quickly, she signed the bottom, casting the last of the space on the page into a mass of beautifully curled ink. Once happy with her letters, she folded them before sealing them with a wax stamp of a Sweet Pea and gently gathered them into her soft hands as she left the comfort and solitude of her bedroom and the Royal Housing altogether.
As she handed the letters for the hobbits towards one Faye, the next for Gimli over to another messenger and the final letter for Aragorn over towards the third and final Faye standing before her, Adrianna contemplated the message she had written for Gandalf. She bid the three safe journeys before the messengers dispersed into the stables, and returned moments later with two chestnut stallions and one dapple grey mare before mounting and riding out of the gates towards The Shire, Gondor and The Lonely Mountain.
Adrianna decided that the letter was fine, and reassured herself that her father would not have any hard feelings about the arrangement before she went in search of another Faye messenger she could trust with the letter.
"Addie!"
The Princess turned, slightly startled at the sudden voice breaking through her surrounding silence like an arrow slicing through still air. "Tobias?" She asked, "What is it?"
He smiled as he reached her, and they continued to walk along the white marbled path in front of them, "Just concerned about your health." He replied, "You worried both myself and father last night with your sudden ill occurrence, how do you feel now?"
Adrianna smiled up at her brother, "Much better, thank you." She replied, "Do you happen to know where any of the messengers are?" She asked. "I believe there were five, and I have already made good use of three."
Tobias raised an eyebrow, "I believe father told you about keeping some of the messengers free from work in case of emergencies." He scolded, "Why? How many letters do you have left to send?"
"Just this one." She replied, holding it up in front of the Prince's eyes. "For Gandalf, I believe he was in Rohan the last I had heard."
"That was over a month ago." Tobias replied, taking the letter out of her hands and examining her script. "Is this one of your wedding invitations?" He asked, a smirk making its way onto his features.
"No!" Adrianna snatched at the letter. Her brother was very rude and nosey, and would not hesitate to read the letter if he had it in his grasp. And as he would then find out that the wedding would not be held in The Glade of Tarasara, he would be most furious and tell the King. "It's private, Tobias." She scowled at him and placed her hands on her hips.
He narrowed his eyes at her, "You don't need to snatch." He spat.
"Well, you shouldn't take things that aren't yours!"
Tobias sighed, "It only an invitation." He exclaimed, "Why are you being so protective over it?"
"It's not addressed to you." Adrianna scolded, "So you aren't allowed to read it."
He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in a huff, and then looked at her suspiciously. "You're hiding something." He stated accusingly.
Adrianna shook her head and turned her back on the Prince. "It's my wedding day, not yours." She stated, "Therefore I'm allowed to hide whatever I like about it."
Tobias ran past his sister, and snatched the letter out of her hands before darting off with it. Adrianna screamed at him to give it back, panic coursed through her as he tore open the seal. "Tobias you're not being very respectful or nice!"
As he began to read, he slowed down before coming to a dead stop. His arms hung at his sides as he turned to face Adrianna. "You're not getting married here." He stated. "Father is going to be so disappointed with you, Addie."
"But we're not going to marry in Mirkwood either, Tobias!" She ran towards him and took the letter out of his hands. "Everything will be alright." She reassured him. "We've discussed this! We know what we're doing." She reassured him. "It's not up to either of our fathers' to decide where we marry, Tobias. We aren't marrying in either of our Kingdom's, because we know one of our fathers' will be unhappy."
"But you're a Princess, Addie!"
"And Legolas is a Prince!" She replied. "If we were to marry in a Kingdom, we would wed in Mirkwood. But we know what will happen if we chose one Kingdom over the other...you won't tell father will you?" She asked.
Tobias glared at her, "I daren't." He snapped, "He might call off the search for your horse."
Adrianna then knew that Persephone hadn't been found during the night, and a new wave of sorrow came over her. She turned away from her brother and stomped through the Sweet Pea Gardens towards the beautiful elven crafted gazebo.
"I wish Legolas was here with me now." She whispered as she leant against the white wooden beam of the gazebo overlooking the Moonlit Pool. "Or I was away from here and with him." She rested her forehead upon her crossed forearms and let out a deep breath before looking back out at the water and resting her chin upon her arms. The silver fish glinted through the water up at her and Adrianna smiled sadly. Her mother used to tell her that the fish would promise her wishes true...but it was obviously a tale her mother had told her to brighten her spirits when she was sad as a child.
Adrianna remained in the gazebo until the sun began to descend in the sky, only then did a Faye flutter towards her to inform her of dinner in the Hall.
Although the Princess wasn't hungry, she thanked the Faye maiden and followed her into the dining Hall. Adrianna immediately sensed the tension in the room between her father and her brother, and was immediately set on edge as to what could have caused such an argument.
The chestnut haired Princess locked eyes with the Prince, and the slight shake of his head informed her that he had not told the King of her wedding plans. "Is something the matter?" She asked warily.
"My dear," Adrias began. "Please eat." The Royal family of three ate in silence, and Adrianna did not miss the looks her father and her brother were sneaking at her.
"What is it?" She asked, gently placing her cutlery down on her plate as she wiped her mouth and hands with her napkin. "Please, tell me."
The King also placed his cutlery down, but could not look at his daughter as he began to speak. "Adrianna, my dear," He began. "I regret to inform you...it pains me to say..." The King sighed and held his head in his hands.
Tobias rolled his eyes and stuffed some bread into his mouth, "Persephone's dead."
Adrianna gasped, her hands covered her mouth and her eyes were wide with shock. "My Persephone?"
"Mothers horse, yes." Tobias stated.
The King glared at his son, "Tobias, I thought we agreed we would break it too her gently?"
"You weren't going to do it!" Tobias exclaimed, putting a forkful of vegetables into his mouth.
The chestnut haired Faye burst into tears at the loss of her horse. She pushed her half eaten dinner plate away from her and placed her head on the table; sobbing into the tablecloth. The King gently rubbed his daughters head affectionately, "It'll be alright, my dear." He reassured her, "I'll get you another one!"
"I don't want another one!" Adrianna cried. "I want Persephone!"
"Well, you can't." Tobias stated, rolling his eyes again.
The King sighed, "Tobias is right, Adrianna. I can only get you a new one, now what would you like?"
"I don't want one like Persephone. No one can replace that trusted mare! A stallion, a black one." She sniffed and wiped her eyes before thinking about her wedding, then realising that her father would still be upset she won't be married in the Moonlit Pools gazebo. She couldn't get a new pony from him and then disappoint him! "Actually, I don't want one." She replied finally. It felt good to not be selfish for once, she didn't feel guilty, she felt like she did when she was part of the Fellowship; free and independent. But still, she did want Persephone back.
The King frowned, "Adrianna?"
"I'm going to bed." The chestnut haired Faye rose from her seat and bowed her head to both her brother and the King. "Goodnight."
A/N: Apologies for the long wait! But do not worry, I have returned!
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