The following morning, while the twins, Legolas, Haldir, Orophin and Rumil had gone riding, Faelwen had gone to the huge airy library to continue with her healing notes. She had been categorising all the newer herbs and elixirs that she and Elrond had been using to cure various wounds and ailments, and was writing the information down in a large leather tome for future reference. She had always enjoyed spending time in the library and, as a result, had become good friends with Melpomaen, one of the junior scripes, with whom she usually chatted merrily as she worked. This morning's main topic of conversation was, of course, the upcoming dance.
"Have you asked someone yet, Faelwen?" inquired Melpomaen curiously.
Faelwen blushed. "Yes, I am going with Haldir," she replied.
"Mirian will be disappointed then!" chuckled Melpomaen delightedly. "He was hoping that you were going to ask him!"
"Mirian?" cried Faelwen in surprise, grimacing, before looking slightly ashamed of herself. "I am sure he is a nice elf, but I just do not think I could put up with him for a whole night! It sounds cruel, but I find half an hour in his company is as much as I can bear."
"That is hardly cruel," Melpomaen grinned. "That just makes you the same as everyone in Imladris! Mirian is the most boring and self-righteous elf I have ever encountered. Even Erestor, who is by far the most patient elf of my acquaintance, uses excuses to get away from him in the library!"
Faelwen burst into laughter and Melpomaen shot her a teasing look.
"Still," he said. "You won't need to worry about being bored with your Marchwarden!"
"He's not my Marchwarden!" said Faelwen at once, though her face began to flood with colour. "Anyway, you haven't told me if someone has asked you yet!"
"I am going with Irianna, the armourer's daughter," confessed Melpomaen happily.
"I always knew that you liked her!" said Faelwen with her pixie-ish grin.
"To be honest, I thought she had eyes for no one but Glorfindel!" said Melpomaen.
"Glorfindel would not look at her in a romantic way!" cried Faelwen in shock. "She's only as old as I am while Glorfindel is several millennia old!"
"I know he'd never do that! He's one of the most chivalrous elves on Middle Earth." said Melpomaen. "But I can hardly compete with the Balrog-Slayer, can I? I could hardly believe it when she asked me to go with her!"
"She is lucky to have you, mellon-nin!" said Faelwen with a smile. "Will you pass me that book on mushrooms, please?"
At that moment, they were unexpectedly disturbed by the arrival of Elrond, who asked the two younger elves if they would mind vacating the library for the morning as he was intending to have a meeting here, which involved the scrutiny of some of the larger maps, with Thranduil, Celeborn, Erestor and the other counsellors.
"Sorry, iel-nin, I know you were working, but we're going to cast a look back at some of the older maps and we need more space than the study can provide."
"It's all right, Ada," Faelwen said, getting gracefully to her feet. "It is a nice morning for a walk in the gardens anyway; the snow is still fresh from last night and everything looks beautiful."
Faelwen made good her word and proceeded from the library to walk among the glistening trees, listening intently as their voices greeted her welcomingly. The wood-elf blood in her was very strong.
She had not gone far when she was accosted by a raven-haired figure. She only barely stifled a groan when she realised that it was Mirian himself.
"Lady Faelwen," Mirian greeted her with elaborate politeness, "may I have a word?"
"Of course," said Faelwen, forcing herself not to grimace, "how can I help you?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of how I could help you," said Mirian pompously. "I know you are timid, Faelwen, and that you are shy at the best of times. It cannot be easy for you to try and ask someone to go with you to the Midwinter dance. Let me offer to be your escort instead."
Faelwen swallowed. "It is kind of you to offer, Mirian," she said uncomfortably, "but I have already asked Haldir to go with me, and he agreed. I'm afraid I cannot go back on my word now." The dark-haired elf's eyes narrowed angrily.
"Do you think yourself so far above me?" demanded Mirian coldly, seizing her by the arms and pushing her up against a tree. Faelwen blanched, unpleasant memories flooding her consciousness. "Or have you forgotten that had Thranduil not found you, you would be nothing more than a two-penny whore to a group of humans!"
"Let go of me!" she said, fear and anger vying for dominance in her brain. She wished she had the courage to pull rank and fought not to panic.
"So full of airs and graces!" Mirian sneered, holding her left arm in a pincer grip. "Would only a Marchwarden do? You should have chosen Prince Legolas; he's more important!"
"It has nothing to do with Haldir being a Marchwarden!" hissed Faelwen, partly in anger, partly in pain. "Take your hands off me, Mirian!"
Mirian's eyes darkened further but as he caught a movement in the background. It was the little human, standing with a scowl on his face and sticking his tongue out at him. However, Mirian was smart enough to say nothing; for to insult the little human was to bring the anger of all Imladris upon him. Seething, he pushed Faelwen aside and stormed back towards the main house.
Shaken, Faelwen absently rubbed at the arm he had been clenching and turned away in the opposite direction. She jumped in surprise when she found Estel standing beside her.
"Was Mirian being nasty to you, Fae?" he asked anxiously. "If he was, I'll tell Elladan and Elrohir! They will not let him be nasty to you."
This determination, spoken with such young innocence, brought a smile to Faelwen's face, despite Mirian's aggression. She smiled affectionately at her foster brother.
"Don't worry Estel. I did not take any notice of him," she said with a conspiratorial air, carefully hiding the fact that she was actually quite upset. "Are your lessons all done for the morning, my heart?"
"Yes! Erestor said I could finish early 'cause he was having a meeting with Ada and Leg'las's Ada!" said Estel happily. It was never 'Thranduil', always 'Leg'as's Ada'. "Will you help me to read the new book he gave me?"
"Of course I will," said Faelwen, swinging him up to set him on her hip. "Come along, we shall see what we can do before lunchtime. And we'll have to tidy you up a bit. The Valar only know how you can get your hair in such a mess simply by attending your lessons!"
"I do not have to have another bath do I?" asked Estel anxiously, wrinkling his nose up at the unpleasant thought.
"Not until tonight, little one," said Faelwen in amusement as she headed back to the house - though still taking care to go in a different direction than the one chosen by Mirian.
She spent the rest of the morning in Estel's room; sitting with the little human on her lap and helping him to form the words as he read. The youthful happiness radiating from the small being in her arms was comforting. She was still absolutely amazed at the way this one little being had turned her life upside down. Determinedly, she put the confrontation with Mirian out of her mind.
Estel, unfortunately, didn't.
"Ada?" he asked over lunch that afternoon.
"Yes, ion-nin? What is it?" replied Elrond with a fond smile.
"Is 'whore' a bad word?" the young human asked curiously. Elrond's face became solemn.
"Yes, Estel, it is," he replied, "and it's one that I do not wish to hear you say again. Where did you hear it?" He cast a frown at the twins.
"Do not look at us!" Elladan cried indignantly. "We did not teach him it!"
"Nor was it I!" Legolas said defensively, on the receiving end of a similar look from Thranduil.
"No, it was not Elladan or Leg'las, Ada," said Estel, innocently continuing on. "I heard Mirian say it to Fae this morning and I thought it sounded mean so I stuck my tongue out at him like this." Estel dutifully repeated his actions. "I am glad I did that if it is a bad word."
"He called you a whore?" demanded Elrohir furiously, looking at his embarrassed sister for confirmation.
"It's of no consequence, Elrohir," she assured him quietly, "I should not have cared for his good opinion, even if he had wished to bestow it!"
Elrond, though far from happy about this event, saw the discomfort and embarrassment on Faelwen's face and decided that pressing for more details was only going to make her feel more humiliated. With his usual calm firmness, he decreed that the matter should be left for now. He instructed Faelwen to come to his study after lunch to explain and that he would deal with Mirian. But the twins, eyes flashing dangerously with fury, quite clearly did not agree.
Sure enough, less than an hour after lunch, Mirian could be seen sporting a black eye and a split lip, while both twins had slight bruises on their knuckles. Faelwen was not an elfling anymore, but that did not mean that they were going to let anyone get away with hurting her!
One week later...
"We will all meet on the landing when it lacks three hours from midnight," Elladan had said earlier that day, "That way we can all walk down to the glade together in time for the dance to start."
Looking out at the star-strewn sky now, Faelwen realised that she had not long left before she would have to meet the twins and the others. She looked in the mirror nervously, twirling a lock of hair around her fingers. It was tradition at the midwinter dance for the ellyth to wear white while the ellyn wore green, symbolising the snow and the evergreens as they twirled together in the winter dance. She was wearing the beautiful white dress that had been a present from Elrond for her begetting day. It was of a light and almost luminous material, embroidered around the low collar, waist and sleeve-ends with silver and green. On her head was the circlet that had been a gift from Thranduil and Legolas; an intricate design of interweaving mithril strands, set with emeralds and white gems.
She had been truly overwhelmed by the gift, and when she had tried to stammer that it was too much to accept, Legolas had only laughed. "You look like a princess these days, Faelwen." he had said affectionately. "It's time you started being attired as one."
Laughing softly at the memory, Faelwen threaded the last tiny white blossom into her hair. Her stomach was full of butterflies. It would be the first time she was had attended this dance and she was extremely nervous. Giving up on doing anything more with her appearance, Faelwen had proceeded through to the twins' room to find them both attired in striking green tunics, embroidered with silver, dark green leggings with identical mithril circlets on their heads. They had inherited Elrond's fine build and impressive manner and Faelwen instinctively knew that a fair number of ellyth would be swooning over both of the twins tonight.
As they had agreed, Elrond's three children met up with Legolas, Haldir, Orophin and Rumil on the landing outside their rooms. Legolas, as always, outshone everyone but, as usual, was completely unaware of his own attractiveness. He was wearing an embroidered tunic of deep green suede with the crown prince of Mirkwood's circlet upon his blond hair.
Faelwen, however, found her attention drawn to another. Haldir, though far from stocky, was more solidly built than most elves. And the well-fitting tunic he was attired in accentuated the muscles that had come as a result of extensive archery practise. Faelwen felt her face begin to go pink again and hoped that she wasn't going to spend the entire night blushing.
Legolas, seeing that the twins were about to start teasing her about it, suggested that they set off for the glade. Faelwen shot him a grateful smile and he grinned back joyfully. Haldir's throat dried up as he extended a hand to help Faelwen down the stairs.
"You look…" he was almost lost for words, "Beautiful."
"Thank you," Faelwen's face burst into flame again and tried to keep her nerves under control as he took her hand in his and descended the wide staircase.
When the group of young elves arrived at the glade, Faelwen was almost speechless with wonder. It was like something out of a dream. The evergreens that surrounded the glade glistened and sparkled as if with some ethereal magic. They were decorated with silver and gold stars that caught the light and sent bright prisms of light in every direction. The frost, sparkling on the ground, made it appear as if they walking on crystal.
"It's beautiful!" said Faelwen, utterly awestruck.
"And Mithrandir has made it this time!" said Elrohir in delight, pointing over to where the old wizard was standing in the midst of an animated conversation with Elrond, Glorfindel and Erestor. He stood out; dressed in his trademark grey while the three elves were resplendent in green, with mirth shining in their eyes.
"I wonder if he has brought any fireworks with him?" mused Orophin, but everyone's attention was suddenly distracted as music of a lively dance flooded the glade. Couples rushed to take their places in the centre, while the twins went off in search of their partners.
"Will you dance with me?" asked Haldir nervously, relaxing as Faelwen answered with a bright smile.
"Of course."
Both of them seemed to lose their nerves a little as they joined the many other couples in the dance, clasping hands, spinning and turning with the usual grace of the elves. They were soon joined by the twins and their partners, while Orophin and Legolas had been coaxed into dancing by two of the counsellor's daughters. The glade was alive with merriment, with bowls of wine being passed around and songs being sung. And the young elves participated in dance after dance completely free from care. The glade was full of twirling blurs of green and white, sounds of laughter and happiness echoing through the trees.
"So what do you think of your first dance then, penneth?" asked Thranduil genially, much later. Faelwen and Haldir were sitting the current dance out and were drinking a goblet of wine with Orophin, Thranduil and Glorfindel.
"It is wonderful!" said Faelwen, her cheeks rosy from happiness and dancing. "I was so nervous when we first arrived!"
"You do not mind if I steal her from you for one dance, Haldir?" asked Legolas brightly, suddenly appearing beside them with eyes bright with merriment. Haldir shook his head with a smile, amused by his enthusiasm and Legolas whisked Faelwen to her feet and led her away.
Mithrandir, his attention drawn by Legolas's silvery laugh, watched intently as the two golden-headed elves twirled and swayed gracefully in time with the others. They seemed completely at ease in each other's company.
"Do I sense that there will soon be a binding of Imladris and Greenwood soon?" he asked Thranduil quietly with a smile.
Thranduil laughed in a manner almost identical to his son and shook his head. "Mithrandir, truly if I thought that Legolas had anything other than brotherly affection for Faelwen, I would be overjoyed at the prospect of a union between them. Faelwen has had a space in my heart ever since I found her lost in the snow. But I know that their love for each other is purely platonic. Besides, something tells me that Faelwen's heart has already been captured by someone else, and that the feeling is entirely mutual between them."
Surprised, Mithrandir looked towards where Thranduil had indicated and saw Haldir watching Faelwen dance with an intensity in his eyes that was aught but meaningless.
"I see…" said Mithrandir slowly, a smile breaking across his wrinkled face. "Well, that is certainly unexpected!"
"Well, who can predict the path of love?" asked Thranduil, with a flash of impishness, watching as Haldir got to his feet as the dance ended, welcoming Faelwen back to his side with a beaming smile that lit the whole glade.
It was in the early hours of the following morning that the dance concluded.
Elves headed back towards the house in droves; some tired, some happy, and some overly-merry from imbibing too much wine. Haldir and Faelwen decided to go for a short walk through the gardens first before heading back to their respective rooms. They paused for a moment under the tree that Faelwen had always hidden in when she was younger and looked up at the bright full moon.
"Tonight was wonderful," said Faelwen softly, at a loss for anything else to say. The words dried up all together when a set of intensely deep eyes locked on hers. "Haldir, I…"
"I know," he replied softly, "but no more words are needed."
And when Haldir's lips pressed gently against hers, Faelwen agreed.