Chapter 49

Brewing Conflicts

In the end, Erynlith dared not to return to Mirrormere and pick a fight with the dwarf-guards. It was bad enough that Moria and Lórinand were hostile to each other. To make matter worse, King Amroth was not faring very well. Erynlith supposed that whatever reconciliation that needed to be done would be done later, much later when her reckless of a cousin could finally walk on his two legs and without a bruised cheek.

After meeting Haldir at the river, she returned to the heart of the forest. One of the maidens showed her new bedchamber, stationed at the top of a golden tree and not too far from the King's room. It was more spacious than the one she had in Rivendell, and had a large round bed, bedside table, a wardrobe filled with only few of her dresses, and a round window that overlooked River Anduin. Hanging at the ceiling was a white chandelier that seemed to glow golden, especially now that the Sun was setting. It made Lórinand look more golden, peaceful and utterly breathtaking.

An hour later, someone knocked.

"Erfaron?" A soft voice inquired from the doorway.

Erynlith turned to see a rather young maiden with dark golden hair and brown eyes.

"The Elvenking invites you for dinner."

"Oh, of course." She had almost forgotten about returning to his chamber. "I will come right away."

Sparing one last glance to her new room, Erynlith followed the attendant and climbed down the flet. She thought the platforms on top of the trees were efficient and designed well, and then also remembered that Thranduil gave a hand in planning them. It was one of his leisure activities: to sketch and plan and perhaps even doze off inside the library or infirmary, much to Santien's annoyance. The memory made her laugh softly; she missed Raithon and Santien, and no words could describe how much she missed Prince and Greenwood. King, she told herself sternly, he is now King.

She was surprised not to see Nimrodel inside Amroth's chamber. When she entered, her grey eyes instinctively searched for the pale, golden-haired Nandorin elf. Instead, she found her cousin sitting up on his bed, with a round table filled with food and drinks beside him.

"Nimrodel has already eaten dinner," Amroth told her, "in case you are wondering." He beckoned her to sit on the other side of the table.

"It really makes me wonder. Did the two of you get into an argument?" She sat in front of him and eyed the scrumptious cakes and berries that were served tonight.

He sipped his wine and said, "Surprised, are you?"

"No." She shook her head, reaching out to munch on a blueberry muffin. "Just plain curious, tra-la."

"Well, it is her fault, after all." Amroth frowned. "She keeps talking to me about this, this—"

She tried to help. "Muffin?"

"Eryn, be serious!"

"I am serious!" She gobbled the rest of her food and reached out for a delicious-looking strawberry-filled tart. Her cousin immediately slapped her hand away. She pouted. "What? I told you I am listening, tra-lo."

"Yes, but be serious." He pinched the bridge of his nose as he let her take a bite on the tart. "May I continue now?"

"By all means, please do."

"All right." Amroth drew a long breath, gathering his courage to tell her. He knew it would be hard for her when she found out, but it would be harder for him. But for the love he had for Nimrodel—"Eryn, I am planning to propose marriage to her. And," he paused, observing how neutral her reaction was, "before we marry, Nimrodel has made me promise to leave Middle-earth with her."

"Wh—" She choked on her strawberry and coughed violently.

"Wait, Eryn!" He jerked up from the bed, but found that he was unable to rush because of his broken right leg. He growled and shouted, "HALDIR!"

Some sort of commotion was happening within the King's chambers, Nimrodel just knew it by observing from the shadows. She heard someone screaming in their native Silvan dialect, and then, the wardens hurriedly climbed the stairs and burst into the room. Someone was shouting for water, and then, for more water, as one of Haldir's younger brothers ran back up with a large pitcher of water in hand. Nimrodel continued to observe in the darkness until the commotion was settled, the worried-looking wardens were sighing in relief, and the King's chambers were once again quiet.

As they were passing through, Nimrodel grabbed hold of a sleeve. She looked up to see a pair of cold blue-grey eyes. "What happened?"

"Erfaron had an accident," Haldir informed. His voice was back to its aloof and commanding tone. "Choked on a berry whilst talking to the King. She is fine now."

She could not believe someone could actually choke on a berry, but since it was Erfaron they were talking about, Nimrodel supposed anything could happen. She thanked Haldir and immediately focused her eyes on the ground; out of all the newly-recruited wardens and scouts, it was Haldir who frightened her the most. He carried an air of absolute confidence around him; more so, he was stricter than the Chief Marchwarden Orgilion himself. His younger brothers were not as intimidating as he was, and Nimrodel was glad of it.

Returning back to the river, she could not help but think about her request over and over again. Yes, she had been so terribly afraid these past few decades—so afraid that she told Amroth to build platforms high above on the trees to avoid attacks from the ground. Amroth agreed; he had always been so agreeable since the beginning of their relationship. Whenever she requested something, Amroth made sure it was fulfilled. If she wanted to spend time with Celairis, Amroth would go to Greenwood and persuade the arrogant King of the Woodland Realm. Nimrodel supposed she was fortunate to be loved by a King—and to be precise, the King of Lórinand.

She hummed a little and dipped her feet into the cold waters. The hem of her green gown was soaked, but she did not care. She braided her long golden hair and looked at her reflection and saw the same maiden every night. However, the maiden did not look as beautiful and as youthful as before; she noticed how paler she had become, how lines had formed near her eyes and mouth, and how unhappy the elf-maiden was. From the mistrustful Nimrodel two thousand years ago, she turned to be the overly-fearful Nimrodel. She did not like it, and Amroth thought worse.

When she bribed him of leaving Middle-earth with marriage, the King was immediately reluctant. It dealt a sharp blow in her heart. All these years she thought Amroth was prepared to do anything for her, even if it meant leaving the forest. An argument sparked then; Amroth downright refused to leave his kingdom, and Nimrodel had accused him that he was being unreasonable.

"And you are being selfish!" Amroth had screamed at her face, eyes darkened and him panting heavily, before ordering her to leave his chambers.

It had been two weeks ago since that happened. A few days later, Orgilion, Haldir and the other wardens returned with an injured King. But Nimrodel was still not allowed to see him.

Let him see. She abruptly stood up from the edge of the river, and dusted her green gown.

Walking barefoot and almost concealed under the shades of the trees, she easily slipped through the eyes of the other Nandorin elves and left the borders of the forest. She looked over her shoulder and expected that the intimidating warden would seize her, but she found no one. There were only the trees and the soft breeze of the cold evening air. She shivered for a while, and then mustered her courage to leave Lórinand.

At midnight, the King of Greenwood finally stopped tossing and rolling on his bed. He got up, scowling at the mess of pillows and blankets, and donned an outer robe and headed outside his chambers. It was cold tonight, he noticed, but he also wondered why he could not sleep. He had no troubles running the kingdom lately; Celairis looked into that, as always. No troubles brewed on either borders of the forest, as Raithon often reported early in the morning.

For the past two thousand years, Greenwood was peaceful. Only now did the King feel uneasy enough not to be able to get a good night's rest.

Thranduil paced back and forth in the throne room, rather relieved that no guards were stationed there for the night. He sipped eagerly on his wine, hoping it would calm him. It did not—not in the slightest bit. He growled yet again and settled himself on the throne, looking ahead and thinking hard.

What am I so worried about? Is it wargs again, in the forest? Lórinand?

His fellow Elvenking had sent a letter about the incident in Mirrormere two weeks ago. Amroth wanted to make sure that if a fight suddenly ensued, Greenwood would come to their aid. Perhaps it was the reason he remained wide awake tonight. He was worried about Amroth and his broken leg and bruised cheek. Anger flared inside him whenever Thranduil remembered those horrible, stunted creatures on two legs, with their thick beards and dark eyes and seemed to look sweaty all the time.

If a fight commences, I will be there to whittle down some dwarves, Thranduil thought and sipped his wine again.

Then, when his anger finally subsided, he returned to his musings.

Why do I feel like I need to go to Lórinand?

Next Chapter: Follow the misadventures of Eryn and Haldir as they search for Nimrodel.

Author's Notes: Okaaaay~! This is a rather short chapter. I intend it to be some sort of prologue before we get into the main action. I must warn you that from this point on, the story would be fast and action-filled. I am very excited to write about Thranduil again!

*juliacensi95 - Wow! Yours must have been one of the longest reviews I have ever read! First and foremost, thank you for the birthday greeting, tra-lay! I am very happy that you like being mentioned in the author's notes. XD I thoroughly enjoy speaking to everyone. And you're quite right! The chapters with Glorfindel are more like chapters to establish his character first, and how Eryn would interact with him. Now it returns to the main point of the story and it would be fast from here on.

Haldir! *squeals* I think all of Middle-earth Elves are dreamy, which is why they need more screentime! About the ship, no—I am not planning to add Haldir. I thought it would only be natural for him to appear, because he lived in Lorinand, too. I am trying another character who is actually young but acts maturely, unlike Erynlith who is the complete opposite. :)

Well-said about Erestor! English might not be your native language, but you said it waaaay better than I ever could. It is his selfishness which tore Thrandy and Eryn, and which always kept Glorfindel at bay. It might be because he thinks Eryn still could not handle herself, that she remains to be the young elf—who is all songs, flowers, etc. He thinks he knows her best, but throughout the years he has become blind and unable to acknowledge how she matured to be a responsible elf, as in Glorfindel's case. Yup, he thinks and wants her to be his little girl. LOL.

Again, thank you for such a wonderful review! I must admit that everytime I read the end, with the "eheheh *tom hiddleston laugh*", I always end up laughing out loud. I love Tom Hiddleston! Then again... who doesn't?! Lovelots, Guilia! :)

*StarofSea - Thank you! I kind of missed hearing (or is it reading?) from you! With or without reviews, I am happy to know that there are many who are waiting for new updates. Yup, Eryn tries to figure out who Haldir actually was, but it was Haldir's father that she knew. It was probably the uncanny physical resemblance. And yeaaah, I don't like Nimrodel that much, too. She's like the female version of Erestor, being selfish and all. Can't decide who is more intolerable. ( ._.)

Now I feel sad thinking about Amroth... *cries*

Let the ship of Thrandy/Eryn sail away! XD

*llcyyxx - Woah, from 42 up to here? Thanks! Don't worry, Haldir won't join the love polygon. He'll remain the single eye candy for all of us. *evil laugh*

*melodicechoes - Calm down, my friend! It is either Eryn goes to Greenwood, or Thranduil goes to Lorinand. Hmmm...

*Rosiethehobbit17 - I think many people do like Haldir! But noooo—he got killed in the movies! There, there my poor marchwarden. Let us love you! before I get carried away cooing at him, I do agree that Nimrodel is being unreasonable. Amroth should just ditch her and remain single forever! MUA HA HA HA! Thank you for the review, and thank you very much for the birthday greeting~!

*crazykenz - If it had been Legolas, Erynlith would surely go "Whaaat?" LOL. Hope you enjoy having Haldir around. Thanks for the review!

*Lord Illyren - She's a troublesome elf, but she knows her limitations. XD Thank you for the birthday greeting!

*Overlord Rousdower - ROUUSSSYY! OMG where have you been? You should have taken me to ride and fence! I would really love that! Oh? Haldir/OC, you say? Let me see what I can do about it... *grins evilly*